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            As used in this Part:

            (1) “Department” means the Louisiana Department of Health or its successor in the role of designated state agency under Title XIX of the Social Security Act or any successor Act including but not limited to block grants or other funding for medical care of the poor.

            (2) “Emergency medical condition” means acute symptoms of sufficient severity such that the absence of immediate medical attention could reasonably be expected to result in any one or more of the following:

            (a) Placing the health of the individual in serious jeopardy, including the health of the unborn child in the case of a pregnant woman.

            (b) Serious impairment to any bodily function.

            (c) Serious dysfunction of any bodily part.

            (3) “Health care provider” means an individual, person, corporation, facility, or institution licensed by the state to provide health care or professional services as a physician, nurse, or allied health professional.

            (4) “Prospective rates approximating cost” means the median cost of a rural hospital providing inpatient acute or inpatient psychiatric services plus ten percent, which cost has been inflated by the Medicare market basket inflation factor to the midpoint of the state’s fiscal year in which services may be furnished. The median cost and rates shall be re-based by the department at least every other year using the most current rural hospital cost reports on file with the department.

            (5) “Public rural hospital” means a rural hospital owned or operated by a political subdivision of the state, including but not limited to a hospital service district, parish, or municipality.

            (6) “Reasonable cost” means the cost of hospital outpatient services, including without limitation provider-based rural health clinics, utilizing Medicare cost reimbursement principles applicable to the respective rural hospital, including hospital-based rural health clinics licensed as hospital departments. In the event a more limited definition of reasonable cost is required to obtain federal approval for the related state plan amendment for those rural hospitals that are reimbursed under Medicare’s Prospective Payment System, hereinafter referred to as “PPS”, the department shall utilize the most liberal definition of “reasonable cost” for such rural PPS hospitals that is acceptable to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, hereinafter referred to as “CMS”.

            (7)(a) “Rural hospital” means a hospital licensed by the department which meets one of the following criteria:

            (i) Has no more than sixty hospital beds as of July 1, 1994; and

            (aa) Is located in a parish with a population of less than fifty thousand; or

            (bb) Is located in a municipality with a population of less than twenty thousand.

            (ii) Meets the qualifications of a sole community hospital under 42 C.F.R. § 412.92(a); or met the qualifications of a sole community hospital as of June 30, 2005, and subsequently converted to critical access hospital status.

            (iii) Has no more than sixty hospital beds as of July 1, 1999, and is located in a parish with a population, as measured by the 1990 census, of less than seventeen thousand.

            (iv) Has no more than sixty hospital beds as of June 30, 2000, and is located in a municipality with a population, as measured by the 1990 census, of less than twenty thousand.

            (v) Has no more than sixty beds as of July 1, 1997, and is located in a parish with a population, as measured by the 1990 and 2000 censuses, of less than fifty thousand.

            (vi) Was a hospital facility licensed by the department that had no more than sixty hospital beds as of July 1, 1994, which hospital facility has been in continuous operation since July 1, 1994, is currently operating under a license issued by the department, and is located in a parish with a population, as measured by the 1990 census, of less than fifty thousand.

            (vii) Has no more than sixty hospital beds or has notified the Louisiana Department of Health as of March 7, 2002 of its intent to reduce its number of hospital beds to no more than sixty, and:

            (aa) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a municipality with a population of less than thirteen thousand; and

            (bb) Is located, as measured in the 2000 census, in a parish with a population of less than thirty-two thousand.

            (viii) Has no more than sixty hospital beds as of May 1, 2001, and:

            (aa) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a municipality with a population of less than five thousand five hundred; and

            (bb) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a parish with a population of less than forty-two thousand.

            (ix) Has no more than sixty hospital beds as of September 26, 2002, and:

            (aa) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a municipality with a population of less than ten thousand; and

            (bb) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a parish with a population of less than thirty-three thousand.

            (x) Has no more than sixty hospital beds as of January 1, 2003, and:

            (aa) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a municipality with a population of less than eleven thousand; and

            (bb) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a parish with a population of less than ninety thousand.

            (xi) Has no more than sixty hospital beds or has notified the Louisiana Department of Health as of May 16, 2003, of its intent to reduce its number of hospital beds to no more than sixty, and:

            (aa) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a municipality with a population of less than seven thousand.

            (bb) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a parish with a population of less than fifty-three thousand.

            (cc) Is located within ten miles of a United States military base.

            (xii) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraphs (7)(c) and (d) of this Section, has no more than forty beds as of January 1, 2005, and:

            (aa) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a municipality with a population of less than three thousand one hundred.

            (bb) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a parish with a population of less than fifteen thousand eight hundred.

            (xiii) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraphs (7)(c) and (d) of this Section, has no more than sixty hospital beds as of November 1, 2013, and:

            (aa) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a municipality with a population of less than thirty-three thousand.

            (bb) Is located, as measured by the 2000 census, in a parish with a population of less than sixty-eight thousand.

            (cc) Is located within three miles of Jackson Barracks.

            (b) “Rural hospital” does not mean a long-term care hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, or a free-standing psychiatric hospital.

            (c) For purposes of this Section, no hospital shall be designated as a “rural hospital” that was not downsized to sixty beds by May 16, 2003 and was not so designated prior to July 1, 2003.

            (d) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section, no hospital shall be eligible to receive disproportionate share funds contingent upon Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval unless designated as a “small rural hospital” and it has been annually certified by the Rural Hospital Coalition, Inc., as an entity eligible for assistance from Building Healthy Communities, Inc.

            (8) “State plan for medical assistance” means the plan promulgated by the department in accordance with its role as designated state agency under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, or its successor plan, including but not limited to any plan adopted pursuant to any federal law creating block grants or other funding for medical care of the poor.

            Acts 1997, No. 1485, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1068, §1; Acts 2001, No. 1074, §1, eff. June 28, 2001; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 35, §1, eff. April 18, 2002; Acts 2003, No. 526, §1, eff. June 23, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 1148, §1, eff. July 2, 2003; Acts 2003, No. 1191, §3, eff. July 3, 2003; Acts 2004, No. 684, §1; Acts 2005, No. 323, §1; Acts 2007, No. 224, §1, eff. July 2, 2007; Acts 2007, No. 327, §1, eff. July 9, 2007; Acts 2007, No. 431, §1; Acts 2008, No. 389, §1; Acts 2010, No. 147, §1; Redesignated from La. Rev. Stat. 40:1300.143 by HCR 84 of 2015 R.S.