H97 - 2015 Appropriations Act, Sec. 12A.15: Health Care Cost Reduction and Transparency Act Revisions (SL 2015-241)

Overview: Sec. 12A.15 of S.L. 2015-241 amends the law (G.S. 131E-214.13) pertaining to the Health Care Cost Reduction and Transparency Act of 2013 as follows:

• Changes the reporting frequency from quarterly to annually, and delays reporting until September 30, 2015, for each hospital to report to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on the 100 most frequently reported admissions by diagnostic related group (DRG) for inpatients.
• Changes the reporting frequency from quarterly to annually, and delays reporting until September 30, 2015, for each hospital and ambulatory surgical facility to report to DHHS the total costs for the 20 most common surgical procedures and the 20 most common imaging procedures by volume, performed in hospital outpatient settings or in ambulatory surgical facilities.
• Delays from January 1, 2015, to March 1, 2016, the date that the Medical Care Commission must adopt rules and requires the Commission to adopt rules to establish and define no fewer than 10 measures for licensed hospital and licensed ambulatory surgical facilities.

This section also amends the law (G.S. 131E-214.14) on disclosure of charity care policy and costs to specify that DHHS must post, in one location and in a manner that is searchable on the DHHS internet Web site, all of the information submitted pertaining to a hospital's or ambulatory surgical facility's financial assistance policy and annual financial assistance costs.

This section became effective July 1, 2015.