§ 6306. Collaboration and shared service agreements

(a) In order to further the State's goals of facilitating universal access to a full range of quality home health services at the lowest practicable cost throughout the State, the home health agencies are authorized and encouraged by the General Assembly to enter into and perform the following types of cooperative arrangements among two or more agencies:

(1) agreements or understandings to pool or share one or more administrative functions, services, or expenses;

(2) agreements or understandings to pool or share certain staffing, including skilled nursing and other personnel;

(3) group purchasing arrangements designed to obtain the benefits of volume discounts and achieve other cost savings and efficiencies for the benefit of consumers;

(4) agreements with managed care plans or other third-party payers, at their request and on a nonexclusive basis, to provide their members with prescribed home health services on discounted groupwide or statewide rates, terms, and conditions;

(5) agreements or understandings to provide home health services, on an occasional or sporadic basis, to patients located in the designated service area of another home health agency due to special needs or other exceptional circumstances preventing the prompt and efficient servicing of such patients by that other home health agency or where otherwise necessary to achieve the purposes of this subchapter; and

(6) agreements related to the sharing of information and technology.

(b) No agreement or understanding of the types specified in subsection (a) of this section, which are entered into subsequent to the effective date of this subchapter, shall be valid or effective unless and until it has received the written approval of the Commissioner. Any such agreement or understanding shall be submitted to the Commissioner for approval or disapproval within 30 days of execution, and the Commissioner shall have 90 days from receipt of such filing within which to approve or disapprove the agreement.

(c) Any and all agreements or understandings of the types specified in subsection (a) of this section, which have been entered into prior to the effective date of this subsection, shall be valid and effective for 12 months following the effective date of this subchapter but not thereafter, unless they have received within that 12-month period the written approval of the Commissioner. The Commissioner shall have 90 days from receipt of such filing within which to approve or disapprove the agreement.

(d) In rendering a decision on any application submitted under subsection (b) or (c) of this section, the Commissioner shall actively scrutinize the terms of the proposed agreement and consider all relevant facts and circumstances surrounding the agreement, as determined in the Commissioner's discretion and pursuant to procedures specified by rule by the Commissioner. The Commissioner shall approve the agreement only if the Commissioner determines that it is in the public interest and is consistent with the purposes and policies set forth in this subchapter, including ensuring that all residents of the State have access to quality home health services delivered in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

(e) Agreements or understandings to pool or share certain staffing, including skilled nursing and other personnel, entered into on a temporary basis, as that term may be defined by the Commissioner, to meet the particular needs of an agency's patients and avoid temporary gaps in services shall be valid and effective without the necessity of obtaining approval by the Commissioner under subsection (b) or (c) of this section.

(f) In authorizing the agreements and understandings of the types specified in subsection (a) of this section and the activities conducted thereunder, the General Assembly intends that its action have the effect of permitting and granting State action immunity for any actions that might otherwise be considered to be in violation of State or federal antitrust laws, in order to accomplish the public policy objectives of this subchapter. (Added 2005, No. 57, § 8, eff. June 13, 2005.)