Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1306 – Legislative findings
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1306
- Healthcare facility: means an independent diagnostic testing facility, magnetic resonance imaging equipment or facility, computerized tomography equipment or facility, Positron Emission Tomography scanner or facility, an ambulatory surgical center licensed by the department, or any outpatient surgical facility required to be licensed by the department as an ambulatory surgical center in order to obtain certification by Medicare as an ambulatory surgical center. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1307
- Healthcare services: means magnetic resonance imaging services, computerized tomography services, Positron Emission Tomography scanner services, ultrasound services, any other imaging services that have become generally accepted methods of providing imaging services after April 17, 2006, as determined by the department, any services rendered by an ambulatory surgical center licensed by the department, or any services rendered by an outpatient surgical facility required to be licensed by the department as an ambulatory surgical center in order to obtain certification by Medicare as an ambulatory surgical center. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1307
- Primary service area: means the smaller of either a radius of twenty-five miles from the rural hospital main campus or the number of postal zip codes, commencing with the rural hospital's zip code, in which seventy-five percent of a rural hospital's patients reside, as determined by using data derived from the hospital's most recent twelve month Medicare cost reporting period. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1307
The Legislature of Louisiana finds as follows:
(1) Rural hospitals are an essential part of the healthcare delivery system for the state of Louisiana.
(2) For many Louisiana residents, especially those without transportation, rural hospitals provide the only healthcare services readily available.
(3) Among the essential services that rural hospitals make available to rural residents is around-the-clock emergency room care.
(4) The development of healthcare facilities that provide services that duplicate those already available in the primary service areas of rural hospitals endangers their continued existence by reducing revenue and can lead to the closure or reduction of access to services in their twenty-four hour emergency rooms.
(5) Patients in a rural hospital’s primary service area with Medicare or private health insurance could be referred to a healthcare facility in which the physician has an ownership interest, thereby depriving the rural hospital of essential revenues, thereby endangering their continued existence.
(6) The purpose of this legislation is to encourage innovative collaboration between and among rural hospitals and physicians in delivery of healthcare services in rural areas.
Acts 2006, No. 819, §1.