Sec. 298F.151. MANDATORY PAYMENTS BASED ON PAYING PROVIDER NET PATIENT REVENUE. (a) If the board authorizes a health care provider participation program under this chapter, for each year the program is authorized, the board may require a mandatory payment to be assessed on the net patient revenue of each institutional health care provider located in the district. The board may provide for the mandatory payment to be assessed periodically throughout the year. 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 year in which the mandatory payment is required, the mandatory payment is assessed on the net patient revenue of an institutional health care provider, which is the amount of that revenue as reported 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 authorized under this chapter 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 298F.103(c)(1). The amount of revenue from mandatory payments that may be used for administrative expenses by the district in a year for activities under this chapter may not exceed $184,000, plus the cost of collateralization of deposits. If the board demonstrates to the paying providers that the costs of administering the health care provider participation program under this chapter, excluding those costs associated with the collateralization of deposits, exceed $184,000 in any year, on consent of all of the paying providers, the district may use additional revenue from mandatory payments received under this chapter to compensate the district for its administrative expenses. A paying provider may not unreasonably withhold consent to compensate the district for administrative 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. 639 (S.B. 1545), Sec. 1, eff. June 10, 2019.