SECTIONS 129475-129535 - California Statutes

HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE

SECTION 129475-129535

129475. The department shall make an inventory of existing
hospitals, including public, nonprofit, and proprietary hospitals, to
survey the need for construction of hospitals, and, on the basis of
the inventory and survey, shall develop a program for the
construction of public and other nonprofit hospitals as will, in
conjunction with existing facilities, afford the necessary physical
facilities for furnishing adequate hospital, clinic, and similar
services to all the people of the state.

129480. The construction program shall provide, in accordance with
regulations prescribed under the federal act, this chapter, and the
regulations thereunder, for adequate hospital facilities for the
people residing in this state, and as much as possible shall provide
for their distribution throughout the state in a manner that makes
all types of hospital service reasonably accessible to all persons in
the state.

129485. The office may make application to the Surgeon General for
federal funds to assist in carrying out the survey and planning
activities provided for in this article. These funds shall be
deposited in the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development
Fund in the State Treasury.

129490. The department shall prepare and submit to the Surgeon
General a state plan, and any revisions thereof or supplements
thereto, that shall include the hospital construction program
developed under this article, and that shall provide for the
establishment, administration, and operation of hospital construction
activities in accordance with the requirements of the federal act
and regulations thereunder.

129495. The department shall, by regulation, prescribe minimum
requirements for the maintenance and operation of hospitals that
receive federal aid for construction under the state plan and shall
adopt and submit building standards for approval pursuant to Chapter
4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 of Division 13 as
required for those purposes.

129500. The state plan shall set forth the relative need for the
several projects included in the construction program, determined on
the basis of the relative need of different sections of the
population and of different areas lacking adequate hospital
facilities, giving special consideration to areas with relatively
small financial resources, and in accordance with the regulations of
the Surgeon General prescribed pursuant to the federal act, and shall
provide for their construction in the order of relative need so
determined, insofar as financial resources available therefor and for
maintenance and operations make it possible. In enacting this
section it is the intent of the Legislature to encourage the design
of projects and the development of programs that undertake
responsibility to provide in an efficient manner comprehensive health
care, including outpatient and preventive care, as well as
hospitalization, to a defined population or populations.
For purposes of this section, the criterion of efficiency referred
to herein shall include, but not be limited to, a consideration of
the utilization of health facilities and services, including
policies, mechanisms, and procedures to prevent excessive
utilization.

129505. Applications for hospital construction projects for which
federal funds are requested shall be submitted to the department, and
may be submitted by the state or any political subdivision thereof
or by any public or nonprofit agency authorized to construct and
operate a hospital. Each application for a construction project shall
conform to federal and state requirements, and shall be submitted in
the manner and form prescribed by the department.
Any county that applies for or accepts federal funds for any
hospital does so on condition that the hospital for which assistance
is requested and accepted, at all times during which it is operated,
(a) shall be qualified for a license under Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 1250) of Division 2 (whether or not that chapter is
otherwise applicable to the hospital), and be subject to inspection
under that chapter to the same extent as are other hospitals to which
that chapter applies; and (b) shall not restrict patients to those
unable to pay for their care.

129510. The department shall afford to every applicant for
assistance for a construction project an opportunity for a fair
hearing before the council upon 10 days' written notice to the
applicant. If the department, after affording reasonable opportunity
for development and presentation of applications in the order of
relative need, finds that a project application complies with the
requirements of Section 129505 and is otherwise in conformity with
the state plan, it shall approve the application and shall recommend
and forward it to the Surgeon General. The department shall consider
and forward applications in the order of relative need set forth in
the state plan in accordance with Section 129500.

129515. From time to time the department shall inspect each
construction project approved by the Surgeon General, and if the
inspection so warrants, the department shall certify to the Surgeon
General that work has been performed upon the project, or purchases
have been made, in accordance with the approved plans and
specifications, and that payment of an installment of federal funds
is due to the applicant.

129520. The office is hereby authorized to receive federal funds in
behalf of, and transmit them to, the applicants. Money received from
the federal government for a construction project approved by the
Surgeon General shall be deposited in the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development Fund, and shall be used solely for payments
due applicants for work performed, or purchases made, in carrying out
approved projects.

129525. Any moneys deposited in the Office of Statewide Health
Planning and Development Fund in accordance with this article are
appropriated for expenditure by the office director for the purposes
for which moneys were received, in accordance with the provisions of
this chapter. Any funds received and not expended for the purposes of
this article shall be repaid to the Treasury of the United States.

129530. The Legislature finds that in certain areas there is a need
for nursing and convalescent homes for persons who are indigent. It
is the purpose of this section to provide authorization for the
construction of the homes, so that public medical assistance may be
provided, under the state's medical assistance programs, for indigent
persons.
The office may issue a certificate of need upon application by a
chartered nonprofit corporation, for a nursing and convalescent home
that provides or makes available medical care for indigent persons,
to be constructed under the Mortgage Insurance Program of the Federal
Housing Administration.

129535. The department shall, to the extent required by federal
law, ascertain and enforce compliance with federal and state
provisions and regulations adopted pursuant to this section during
the period that an applicant who receives federal assistance remains
obligated in order to assure the provision of uncompensated services
for persons unable to pay for those services.
The department shall adopt regulations, in accordance with
applicable federal regulations and Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code, for administering federal requirements for uncompensated
services for persons unable to pay for those services. The
regulations shall include all of the following:
(a) Identify categories of persons eligible for uncompensated
services.
(b) Define the services that applicants may provide to meet their
obligations under this section.
(c) Require obligated facilities to submit information, data,
budgets, and reports, in a form and manner as the department may
prescribe, describing the method under which the facility elects to
establish the level at which it will provide uncompensated services.
(d) Permit department approval of requests to provide
uncompensated services at a lesser level than prescribed, based on
facility's inability to provide the prescribed level.
(e) Specify procedures for public hearings to inform the public of
levels of uncompensated services to be provided by individual
facilities or to resolve disputes and complaints relating to these
levels.
(f) Set forth procedures for publication of notice concerning
public hearings and, thereafter, for notices announcing the levels of
uncompensated services to be provided by facilities.
(g) Describe the surveillance program utilized by the department
to assure that individual facility's obligations to provide a
determined level of uncompensated services are met.