Sec. 298C.151. MANDATORY PAYMENTS BASED ON PAYING PROVIDER NET PATIENT REVENUE. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (e), if the board authorizes a health care provider participation program under this chapter, the board may require a mandatory payment to be assessed, either annually or periodically throughout the fiscal year at the discretion of the board, on the net patient revenue of each institutional health care provider located in the district. The board shall provide an institutional health care provider written notice of each assessment under this subsection, and the provider has 30 calendar days following the date of receipt of the notice to pay the assessment. In the first fiscal year in which the mandatory payment is required, the mandatory payment is assessed on the net patient revenue of an institutional health care provider as determined by the data reported to the Department of State Health Services under Sections 311.032 and 311.033 in the most recent fiscal year for which that data was reported. If the institutional health care provider did not report any data under those sections, the provider's net patient revenue is the amount of that revenue as contained in the provider's Medicare cost report submitted for the previous fiscal year or for the closest subsequent fiscal year for which the provider submitted the Medicare cost report. If the mandatory payment is required, the district shall update the amount of the mandatory payment on an annual basis.

(b) The amount of a mandatory payment assessed under this chapter by the board must be uniformly proportionate with the amount of net patient revenue generated by each paying provider in the district as permitted under federal law. A health care provider participation program authorized under this chapter may not hold harmless any institutional health care provider, as required under 42 U.S.C. Section 1396b(w).

(c) If the board requires a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter, the board shall set the amount of the mandatory payment, subject to the limitations of this chapter. The aggregate amount of the mandatory payments required of all paying providers in the district may not exceed six percent of the aggregate net patient revenue from hospital services provided by all paying providers in the district.

(d) Subject to Subsection (c), if the board requires a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter, the board shall set the mandatory payments in amounts that in the aggregate will generate sufficient revenue to cover the administrative expenses of the district for activities under this chapter and to fund an intergovernmental transfer described by Section 298C.103(c)(1). The annual amount of revenue from mandatory payments that shall be paid for administrative expenses by the district is $150,000, plus the cost of collateralization of deposits, regardless of actual expenses.

(e) A paying provider may not add a mandatory payment required under this section as a surcharge to a patient.

(f) A mandatory payment assessed under this chapter is not a tax for hospital purposes for purposes of Section 4, Article IX, Texas Constitution, or Section 281.045 of this code.

Added by Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 694 (S.B. 2315), Sec. 1, eff. June 10, 2019.