A. 1. The State Department of Health, or a city-county health department, may enter into agreements with charitable health care providers in which the provider stipulates to the State Department of Health, or a city-county health department, that when the provider renders professional services to a medically indigent person in a free clinic as provided in Section 32 of Title 76 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or when a patient is referred from a free clinic to another charitable health care provider for medical services, such services will be provided gratuitously;

2. The State Department of Health shall adopt rules which specify the conditions for termination of any such agreement, and the rules shall be made a part of the agreement. A city-county health department shall utilize the same rules as adopted by the State Department of Health for administration of the provisions of this section; and

3. A charitable health care provider, for purposes of any claim for damages arising as a result of rendering professional services to a medically indigent person, which professional services were rendered gratuitously in a free clinic as provided in Section 32 of Title 76 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or when a patient is referred from a free clinic to another charitable health care provider for medical services, at a time when an agreement entered into by the charitable health care provider with the State Department of Health, or a city-county health department, pursuant to this section was in effect, shall be considered an employee of the state under The Governmental Tort Claims Act.

B. The State Department of Health shall adopt rules on eligibility criteria for determining whether a person qualifies as a medically indigent person. A city-county health department shall utilize the same rules as adopted by the State Department of Health for administration of the provisions of this section.

C. Any claim arising from the rendering of or failure to render professional services by a charitable health care provider brought pursuant to The Governmental Tort Claims Act shall not be considered by an insurance company in determining the rate charged for any professional liability insurance policy for health care providers nor whether to cancel any such policy.

Added by Laws 2007, c. 139, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2007.