Requires each individual who is elected or appointed to a school board to (i) submit to fingerprinting and provide personal descriptive information to be forwarded along with his fingerprints by the school board through the Central Criminal Records Exchange to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the purpose of obtaining criminal history record information and (ii) provide written consent and the necessary personal information for the school board to obtain a search of the registry of founded complaints of child abuse and neglect maintained by the Department of Social Services and to take reasonable steps to obtain information from each state in which the individual has resided within the prior five years to determine whether such individual is the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse and neglect in any such state. The bill precludes any individual who is found to have been (a) convicted of a felony or any offense involving the sexual molestation, physical or sexual abuse, or rape of a child in the Commonwealth or an equivalent offense in another state or (b) the subject of a founded complaint of child abuse and neglect in the Commonwealth or another state from serving on any school board. The bill requires each entity that administers the school board election or appointment process for each local school division to notify each prospective school board member of the foregoing requirements.
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Defines "charity care" as care provided in accordance with a provider's policy of providing health care services free of charge or at a reduced rate because of the indigence or medical indigence of the patient. The bill requires all hospitals, doctors of medicine and osteopathy, and dentists licensed to practice as oral and maxillofacial surgeons to whom a certificate of public need has been issued to establish charity care policies and post information about such policies in a public place; requires health care providers to submit to the Commissioner of Health data on the amount of charity care provided; provides that the value of charity care shall be determined in accordance with fee schedules for Medicare services established by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); provides that in the case of a health care provider providing services at more than one facility, charity care shall be reported for each facility at which services are provided and shall not be aggregated by the provider; and requires not-for-profit hospitals to (i) conduct community needs assessments and develop strategies to meet the needs identified, (ii) establish financial assistance policies for patients, (iii) establish limits on charges for emergency and other medically necessary care for individuals eligible for assistance under the financial assistance policy, and (iv) ensure that the hospital does not engage in extraordinary actions to collect amounts owed before determining whether the person is eligible for financial assistance. The bill also requires not-for-profit hospitals to report annually to the Commissioner of Health on (a) the outcomes of the community needs assessment and the implementation of the strategy developed to meet the community health needs identified through such assessment; (b) the financial assistance policy and the utilization thereof; and (c) the steps the hospital has undertaken to determine whether a person to whom services have been delivered is eligible for assistance under the hospital's financial assistance policy and efforts of the hospital to ensure that any collections activities undertaken by the hospital to collect amounts owed by such persons are not extraordinary action. Such report shall also include (1) a statement disclosing any for-profit subsidiaries owned by the not-for-profit hospital and (2) a statement of the amount of compensation paid by the not-for-profit hospital to executive staff of the hospital.
Requires health insurers and other carriers to utilize the same drug pricing benchmark value to reimburse providers, to charge the sponsor of a health plan, and to develop premiums for a health benefit plan. The measure defines a drug pricing benchmark value as the base price of a prescription drug from which the carrier may deviate for reimbursement purposes.