Sec. 19a-509b. Hospital bed funds.

(a) As used in this section, (1) “hospital bed fund” means any gift of money, stock, bonds, financial instruments or other property made by any donor for the purpose of establishing a fund to provide medical care, including, but not limited to, inpatient or outpatient care, to patients at a hospital. A hospital bed fund may be established by inter vivos gift, bequest, subscription, solicitation, dedication or any other means; (2) “hospital” means hospital as defined in section 19a-490; (3) “collection agent” means any person, either employed by or under contract to, a hospital, who is engaged in the business of collecting payment from consumers for medical services provided by the hospital, and includes, but is not limited to, attorneys performing debt collection activities.

(b) (1) Each hospital which holds or administers one or more hospital bed funds shall post or cause to be posted in a conspicuous public place in each patient admitting location, including, but not limited to, the admissions office, emergency room, social services department and patient accounts or billing office, information in English and Spanish regarding the availability of its hospital bed funds, in plain language in a forty-eight to seventy-two point type size. Such information shall include: (A) Notification of the existence of hospital bed funds and the hospital's program to administer them and (B) the person to contact for application information.

(2) Each hospital which has a hospital bed fund shall train staff, including but not limited to, hospital social workers, discharge planners and billing personnel concerning the existence of such fund, the eligibility requirements and the procedures for application.

(c) Each hospital that holds or administers one or more hospital bed funds shall make available in a place and manner allowing individual members of the public to easily obtain it, a one-page summary in English and Spanish describing hospital bed funds and how to apply for them. The summary shall also describe any other policies regarding the provision of charity care and reduced cost services for the indigent as reported by the hospital to the Health Systems Planning Unit of the Office of Health Strategy pursuant to section 19a-649 and shall clearly distinguish hospital bed funds from other sources of financial assistance. The summary shall include notification that the patient is entitled to reapply upon rejection, and that additional funds may become available on an annual basis. The summary shall be available in the patient admissions office, emergency room, social services department and patient accounts or billing office, and from any collection agent. If during the admission process or during its review of the financial resources of the patient, the hospital reasonably believes the patient will have limited funds to pay for any portion of the patient's hospitalization not covered by insurance, the hospital shall provide the summary to each such patient.

(d) Each hospital which holds or administers one or more hospital bed funds shall require its collection agents to include a summary as provided in subsection (c) of this section in all bills and collection notices sent by such collection agents.

(e) Applicants for assistance from hospital bed funds shall be notified in writing of any award or any rejection and the reason for such rejection. Patients who cannot pay any outstanding medical bill at the hospital shall be allowed to apply or reapply for hospital bed funds.

(f) Each hospital which holds or administers one or more hospital bed funds shall maintain and annually compile, at the end of the fiscal year of the hospital, the following information: (1) The number of applications for hospital bed funds; (2) the number of patients receiving hospital bed fund grants and the actual dollar amounts provided to each patient from such fund; (3) the fair market value of the principal of each individual hospital bed fund, or the principal attributable to each bed fund if held in a pooled investment; (4) the total earnings for each hospital bed fund or the earnings attributable to each hospital bed fund; (5) the dollar amount of earnings reinvested as principal if any; and (6) the dollar amount of earnings available for patient care. The information compiled pursuant to this subsection shall be permanently retained by the hospital and made available to the Health Systems Planning Unit upon request.

(P.A. 91-348, S. 1–5; P.A. 95-257, S. 39, 58; P.A. 03-266, S. 2; P.A. 07-149, S. 1; P.A. 10-179, S. 106; P.A. 18-91, S. 58.)

History: P.A. 95-257 replaced Commission on Hospitals and Health Care with Office of Health Care Access, effective July 1, 1995; (Revisor's note: In 2001 references to “Department of Social Services” in Subsecs. (b) and (c) were changed editorially by the Revisors to “social services department” in order to reflect the original language contained in P.A. 91-348 and to correct a codification error); P.A. 03-266 amended Subsec. (a) by specifying medical care includes inpatient and outpatient care and adding Subdiv. (3) defining “collection agent”, amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) to require bed fund summary to be in English and Spanish, adding required elements of summary in Subsec. (c), added new Subsec. (d) re summary to be included in bills sent by collection agent, redesignated existing Subsecs. (d) and (e) as new Subsecs. (e) and (f) and made conforming and technical changes; P.A. 07-149 amended Subsec. (c) to substitute provision re charity care for free care re policies for the indigent and make a technical change, effective July 1, 2007; P.A. 10-179 amended Subsec. (c) by replacing “Office of Health Care Access” with “Office of Health Care Access division of the Department of Public Health”; P.A. 18-91 amended Subsecs. (c) and (f) by replacing references to Office of Health Care Access with references to Health Systems Planning Unit, effective May 14, 2018.

Notation

Hospital bed funds statute cited. 44 CS 274.