2001 REGULAR SESSION (71st)                                                                             A SB402 778

Amendment No. 778

 

Senate Amendment to Senate Bill No. 402                                                                         (BDR 17‑972)

Proposed by: Committee on Finance

Amendment Box:

Resolves Conflicts with: N/A

Amends:         Summary:              Title:              Preamble:         Joint Sponsorship:

 

ASSEMBLY ACTION              Initial and Date              |SENATE ACTION                        Initial and Date

       Adopted       Lost                                               |          Adopted       Lost                                           

Concurred In                     Not                                                        |Concurred In  Not                                 

       Receded        Not                                               |         Receded        Not                                           

 

     Amend the bill as a whole by deleting sections 1 through 7, renumbering sec. 8 as sec. 2 and adding a new section designated section 1, following the enacting clause, to read as follows:

     Section 1. NRS 439B.220 is hereby amended to read as follows:

     439B.220  The committee may:

     1.  Review and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of programs for the prevention of illness.

     2.  Review and compare the costs of medical care among communities in Nevada with similar communities in other states.

     3.  Analyze the overall system of medical care in the state to determine ways to coordinate the providing of services to all members of society, avoid the duplication of services and achieve the most efficient use of all available resources.

     4.  Examine the business of providing insurance, including the development of cooperation with health maintenance organizations and organizations which restrict the performance of medical services to certain physicians and hospitals, and procedures to contain the costs of these services.

     5.  Examine hospitals to:

     (a) Increase cooperation among hospitals;

     (b) Increase the use of regional medical centers; and

     (c) Encourage hospitals to use medical procedures which do not require the patient to be admitted to the hospital and to use the resulting extra space in alternative ways.

     6.  Examine medical malpractice.

     7.  Examine the system of education to coordinate:

     (a) Programs in health education, including those for the prevention of illness and those which teach the best use of available medical services; and

     (b) The education of those who provide medical care.

     8.  Review competitive mechanisms to aid in the reduction of the costs of medical care.

     9.  Examine the problem of providing and paying for medical care for indigent and medically indigent persons, including medical care provided by physicians.

     10.  Examine the effectiveness of any legislation enacted to accomplish the purpose of restraining the costs of health care while ensuring the quality of services, and its effect on the subjects listed in subsections 1 to 9, inclusive.

     11.  Determine whether regulation by the state will be necessary in the future by examining hospitals for evidence of:

     (a) Degradation or discontinuation of services previously offered, including without limitation, neonatal care, pulmonary services and pathology services; or

     (b) A change in the policy of the hospital concerning contracts,

FLUSH

 
as a result of any legislation enacted to accomplish the purpose of restraining the costs of health care while ensuring the quality of services.

     12.  Study the effect of the acuity of the care provided by a hospital upon the revenues of hospital and upon limitations upon that revenue.

     13.  Review the actions of the director in administering the provisions of this chapter and adopting regulations pursuant to those provisions. The director shall report to the committee concerning any regulations proposed or adopted pursuant to this chapter.

     14.  Identify and evaluate, with the assistance of an advisory group, the alternatives to institutionalization for providing long-term care, including, without limitation:

     (a) An analysis of the costs of the alternatives to institutionalization and the costs of institutionalization for persons receiving long-term care in this state;

     (b) A determination of the effects of the various methods of providing long-term care services on the quality of life of persons receiving those services in this state;

     (c) A determination of the personnel required for each method of providing long-term care services in this state; and

     (d) A determination of the methods for funding the long-term care services provided to all persons who are receiving or who are eligible to receive those services in this state.

     15.  Evaluate, with the assistance of an advisory group, the feasibility of obtaining a waiver from the Federal Government to integrate and coordinate acute care services provided through Medicare and long-term care services provided through Medicaid in this state.

     16.  Evaluate, with the assistance of an advisory group, the feasibility of obtaining a waiver from the Federal Government to eliminate the requirement that elderly persons in this state impoverish themselves as a condition of receiving assistance for long-term care.

     17. Conduct investigations and hold hearings in connection with its review and analysis.

     [15.] 18. Apply for any available grants and accept any gifts, grants or donations to aid the committee in carrying out its duties pursuant to this chapter.

     [16.] 19. Direct the legislative counsel bureau to assist in its research, investigations, review and analysis.

     [17.] 20. Recommend to the legislature as a result of its review any appropriate legislation.”.

     Amend the preamble of the bill, page 1, by deleting line 7 and inserting:

“of grave concern to the legislature; and

     Whereas, Issues relating to long-term care would be most appropriately reviewed by a permanent task force; and

     Whereas, Until such a task force is established, those issues would be most appropriately reviewed by the legislative committee on health care; now therefore,”.

     Amend the title of the bill to read as follows:

“AN ACT relating to health care; expanding the authority of the legislative committee on health care to review certain issues relating to long-term care; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.”.

     Amend the summary of the bill to read as follows:

“SUMMARY—Expands authority of legislative committee on health care to review certain issues relating to long-term care. (BDR 40-972)”.