Assembly Bill No. 137–Committee on
Government Affairs

 

CHAPTER..........

 

AN ACT relating to the Office of the Governor; revising the requirements for the submission of a report to the Governor and the Director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau concerning the Bureau for Hospital Patients within the Office for Consumer Health Assistance; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

    Section 1. NRS 223.575 is hereby amended to read as follows:

    223.575  1.  The Bureau for Hospital Patients is hereby created

 within the Office for Consumer Health Assistance in the Office of

 the Governor.

    2.  The Director:

    (a) Is responsible for the operation of the Bureau, which must be

 easily accessible to the clientele of the Bureau.

    (b) Shall appoint and supervise such additional employees as are

 necessary to carry out the duties of the Bureau. The employees of

 the Bureau are in the unclassified service of the State.

    (c) [Shall] On or before February 1 of each year, shall submit

 a written report [quarterly] to the Governor, and to the Director of

 the Legislative [Committee on Health Care] Counsel Bureau

 concerning the activities of the Bureau[, including,] for Hospital

 Patients for transmittal to the appropriate committee or

 committees of the Legislature. The report must include, without

 limitation, the number of complaints received by the Bureau, the

 number and type of disputes heard, mediated, arbitrated or resolved

 through alternative means of dispute resolution by the Director and

 the outcome of the mediation, arbitration or alternative means of

 dispute resolution.

    3.  The Director may, upon request made by either party, hear,

 mediate, arbitrate or resolve by alternative means of dispute

 resolution disputes between patients and hospitals. The Director

 may decline to hear a case that in his opinion is trivial, without

 merit or beyond the scope of his jurisdiction. The Director may

 hear, mediate, arbitrate or resolve through alternative means of

 dispute resolution disputes regarding:

    (a) The accuracy or amount of charges billed to a patient;

    (b) The reasonableness of arrangements made pursuant to

 paragraph (c) of subsection 1 of NRS 439B.260; and

    (c) Such other matters related to the charges for care provided to

a patient as the Director determines appropriate for arbitration,

 mediation or other alternative means of dispute resolution.

    4.  The decision of the Director is a final decision for the

 purpose of judicial review.

    5.  Each hospital, other than federal and state hospitals, with 49

 or more licensed or approved hospital beds shall pay an annual

 assessment for the support of the Bureau. On or before July 15 of

 each year, the Director shall notify each hospital of its assessment

 for the fiscal year. Payment of the assessment is due on or before

 September 15. Late payments bear interest at the rate of 1 percent

 per month or fraction thereof.

    6.  The total amount assessed pursuant to subsection 5 for a

 fiscal year must be $100,000 adjusted by the percentage change

 between January 1, 1991, and January 1 of the year in which the

 fees are assessed, in the Consumer Price Index (All Items)

 published by the United States Department of Labor.

    7.  The total amount assessed must be divided by the total

 number of patient days of care provided in the previous calendar

 year by the hospitals subject to the assessment. For each hospital,

 the assessment must be the result of this calculation multiplied by

 its number of patient days of care for the preceding calendar year.

    Sec. 2.  This act becomes effective upon passage and approval.

 

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