What's happening
This bill establishes the Enhanced Safety Net Hospital Program, providing increased funding and support for hospitals serving high numbers of Medicaid and uninsured patients.
Why it matters
Targets hospitals serving the most vulnerable populations. The bill specifically defines "enhanced safety net hospitals" using strict criteria, ensuring that support goes to hospitals where the majority of patients are on Medicaid or uninsured, and where commercial insurance is rare. This focuses resources on facilities most at risk of financial instability.
Expands eligibility to key public and rural hospitals. Beyond just the percentage-based criteria, the bill includes all public hospitals and those federally designated as critical access or sole community hospitals. This ensures that essential hospitals in rural or underserved areas, which often have fewer financial resources, are supported.
Provides state-only funding for enhanced payments. By making the state responsible for the non-federal share of increased payments (with no required local contribution), the bill removes a significant financial burden from counties and municipalities, allowing them to maintain local health services without raising local taxes or cutting other services.
Aims to protect essential community health services. The enhanced payments are intended to help hospitals continue providing crucial services like emergency care, clinics, dental, and prenatal care. This is particularly important in communities where these hospitals may be the only accessible providers for low-income or uninsured patients.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Fund Struggling Hospitals Statewide
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 45
History
- Vetoed memo.229
- Delivered to governor
- Returned to senate
- Passed assembly
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.506
- Substituted for A7763
- Referred to ways and means
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 63–0
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.1283
Show 6 earlier actions
- Print number 5661b
- Amend and recommit to finance
- Print number 5661a
- Amend and recommit to finance
- Reported and committed to finance
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Fund Safety Net Hospitals
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Richard Gottfried
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5661--B
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 24, 2017
Introduced by Sens. LITTLE, HANNON, RITCHIE, VALESKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Committee on Finance -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing the enhanced safety net hospital program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 2807-c of the public health law is amended by adding a new subdivision 34 to read as follows:
34. Enhanced safety net hospital program. (a) For the purposes of this subdivision, "enhanced safety net hospital" means a hospital which:
(i) in any of the previous three calendar years, has met the following criteria:
(A) not less than fifty percent of the patients it treats receive medicaid or are medically uninsured;
(B) not less than forty percent of its inpatient discharges are covered by medicaid;
(C) twenty-five percent or less of its discharged patients are commercially insured;
(D) not less than three percent of the patients it provides services to are attributed to the care of uninsured patients; and
(E) provides care to uninsured patients in its emergency room, hospital based clinics and community based clinics, including the provision of important community services, such as dental care and prenatal care;
(ii) is a public hospital operated by a county, municipality, public benefit corporation or the state university of New York; or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11172-05-7
S. 5661--B 2
(iii) is federally designated as a critical access or sole community hospital.
(b) The commissioner shall adjust medical assistance rates to enhanced safety net hospitals for the purposes of supporting critically needed health care services and to ensure the continued maintenance and operation of such hospitals.
(c) Payment of the non-federal share of the medical assistance payments made pursuant to this subdivision shall be the responsibility of the state and shall not include a local share. Payments made pursuant to this subdivision may be added to rates of payment or made as aggregate payments to eligible general hospitals.
§ 2. This act shall take effect April 1, 2018.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to establishing the enhanced safety net hospital program
Purpose
To establish a definition of safety net hospitals in New York State for purposes of assuring financial viability of hospitals that are the safety net providers in their community.
Summary of provisions
Add a new subdivision 34 to Public Health Law § 2807-c to establish an enhanced safety net hospital program. The definition of "enhanced safety net hospital" is based on ratios of patients served who are either enrolled in Medicaid or uninsured, as well as public hospitals, State University hospitals, and federally designated sole community and critical access hospitals.
The Commissioner of Health would adjust Medicaid rates for enhanced safety net hospitals to support critically needed health care services and continued operation of such hospitals. The state share of the Medicaid adjustment would not include a local share.
Section 2 - The effective date is amended to take effect April 1, 2018.
Justification
The state budget for fiscal year 2017-18 includes appropriations for Enhanced Safety Net Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals. These appropriations are intended to highlight and support the valuable role these institutions play in stabilizing underserved communities.
It is necessary to enact a statutory program with a payment rate adjustment in order to assure the financial viability of safety net providers, support the vital services they provide, and acknowledge their benefit to our state.
Legislative history
2016: A.9476-a passed the Assembly and Senate but was vetoed by the Governor.
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.