Article 3. Survey And Planning of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 107. >> Part 6. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 3.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.