§ 108A‑148.1. Healthcare access and stabilization program.
(a) The healthcare access and stabilization program is a directed payment program that provides acute care hospitals with increased reimbursements funded through hospital assessments in accordance with this section.
(b) The Department shall submit a 42 C.F.R. § 438.6(c) preprint requesting approval for the HASP program that includes any required demonstration for the financing of the nonfederal share of the HASP program costs. The Department shall not make any HASP directed payments prior to CMS approval of the initial preprint. The Department may not request any date of service for claims eligible for reimbursement through the HASP program earlier than July 1, 2022. The Department shall continue to submit any necessary documentation requesting continued approval for the HASP program as described in this section in the time and manner as required by CMS.
(c) All State funds required to make HASP directed payments shall be derived from HASP components of the hospital assessments under this Article, subject to all of the following limitations:
(1) If the Department determines that the HASP components under this Article will not generate funds in an amount equal to or greater than the total State funds required to make all HASP directed payments in any given quarter of the State fiscal year, then the Department shall reduce the amount of the HASP directed payments in the lowest amount necessary to ensure that the HASP components under this Article will generate enough funds to equal the total State funds required to make all the HASP directed payments in that quarter.
(2) If the aggregate amount of all assessments due from hospitals under this Article are determined by the Department to exceed the permissible limit established under 42 C.F.R. § 433.68(f) in any quarter of the State fiscal year, then the Department shall reduce the amount of the HASP directed payments in the lowest amount necessary to ensure that these hospital assessments in aggregate do not exceed the permissible limit.
(d) As part of the preprint submission required under this section, for the 2022‑2023 State fiscal year, the Department shall not request any amount of HASP hospital reimbursements that is greater than the maximum amount allowable under 42 C.F.R. § 438.6(c). Beginning with the 2023‑2024 State fiscal year, the Department shall not request any amount of HASP hospital reimbursements that is (i) greater than the maximum amount allowable under 42 C.F.R. § 438.6(c) or (ii) less than an annual estimated total dollar amount of three billion two hundred million dollars ($3,200,000,000) for services provided to not newly eligible individuals. (2023‑7, s. 1.4.)