MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2020

By: Representative Mims To: Rules

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 1782

1 AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY

2 FUND TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF
3 MENTAL HEALTH AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF
4 HIGHER LEARNING FOR PURPOSES ADDRESSING OR RELATED TO THE PUBLIC
5 HEALTH EMERGENCY DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC; AND FOR RELATED
6 PURPOSES.
7 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

8 SECTION 1. The following sum, or so much of it as may be

9 necessary, is appropriated out of any money in the Budget

10 Contingency Fund not otherwise appropriated, to the State

11 Department of Health for the purposes described in Section 2 of

12 this act, for the period beginning upon July 1, 2020, and ending

13 December 30, 2020................................ $ 100,399,500.00.

14 SECTION 2. The funds appropriated under Section 1 of this

15 act shall be expended by the State Department of Health for the

16 following purposes:

17 (a) Purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) from

18 one or more wholesalers to be provided to the surgery centers

19 licensed by the department, for themselves and their office staff,

20 for protection against Covid-19 from current patients, and to have
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21 sufficient PPE in preparation for the expected new cases during

22 the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency

23 later this year...................................... $ 562,500.00.

24 (b) Purchasing PPE from one or more wholesalers to be

25 provided to the permitted EMS units licensed by the department,

26 for staff, for protection against Covid-19 from current patients,

27 and to have sufficient PPE in preparation for the expected new

28 cases during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public

29 health emergency later this year..................... $ 933,000.00.

30 (c) Purchasing PPE from one or more wholesalers to be

31 provided to the nursing homes licensed by the department, for

32 themselves and their office staff, for protection against Covid-19

33 from current patients, and to have sufficient PPE in preparation

34 for the expected new cases during the continuation of the current

35 Covid-19 public health emergency later this year..................

36 ................................................... $ 1,055,000.00.

37 (d) Purchasing PPE from one or more wholesalers to be

38 provided to dentists licensed by the Board of Dental Examiners,

39 for themselves and their office staff, for protection against

40 Covid-19 from current patients, and to have sufficient PPE in

41 preparation for the expected new cases during the continuation of

42 the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year......

43 ................................................... $ 4,224,000.00.

44 (e) Providing additional funds to the Federally

45 Qualified Health Centers in the state to recruit and pay

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46 additional physicians for a limited period of time, who are needed

47 because the other physicians of the centers will be treating

48 patients with Covid-19, and to properly address the continuation

49 of the current Covid-19 public health emergency and treating those

50 patients........................................... $ 1,500,000.00.

51 (f) Providing funds to the Mississippi Center for Rural

52 Health Innovation within the Office of Rural Health of the

53 department, as established by House Bill No. 94, 2020 Regular

54 Session, for assisting rural hospitals with understanding how to

55 best operate during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on the

56 loss of revenue for hospitals below their normal revenue stream

57 due to circumstances caused by the pandemic, and making sure that

58 correct personnel are in place in the hospitals who have the

59 requisite expertise to properly address the continuation of the

60 current Covid-19 public health emergency........... $ 1,600,000.00.

61 (g) Providing funds for community workers with the

62 Office of Community Engagement of the department who are involved

63 in minority and low income areas to help educate the residents of

64 those areas about Covid-19 and assist them in learning how to

65 prevent infections from the coronavirus............ $ 1,925,000.00.

66 (h) Providing funds to Tate County, Mississippi, to be

67 disbursed to the North Oak Regional Medical Center or its

68 successor entity, which funding the Legislature finds is a

69 necessary expenditure incurred due to the Covid-19 public health

70 emergency, since such funding is necessary to allow the medical

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71 center to continue in operations during the current Covid-19

72 public health emergency............................ $ 2,000,000.00.

73 (i) Providing funds to the MAGnet Community Health

74 Disparity Program, whose mission is to strengthen collaboration

75 and coordination for improved health access, performance, outcomes

76 and cost efficiencies and whose vision is to improve the health

77 status for all Mississippians through integrated health, which

78 funding shall to be used to address the disproportionate impact on

79 the minority community of coronavirus infections and deaths from

80 Covid-19, by developing and implementing plans to reduce and

81 mitigate those occurrences and negative outcomes in the minority

82 community during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public

83 health emergency later this year................... $ 6,000,000.00.

84 (j) Reimbursing hospitals for their necessary

85 expenditures incurred due to the Covid-19 public health emergency.

86 .................................................. $ 80,000,000.00.

87 The department shall determine the maximum possible amount

88 available to each hospital using a formula based on the total

89 number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients that the hospital treated

90 as of June 21, 2020, and the number of Mississippi licensed

91 hospital beds in the hospital. A hospital shall be eligible to

92 receive the amount determined under that formula or the actual

93 amount of the necessary expenditures incurred by the hospital due

94 to the Covid-19 public health emergency, whichever is the lesser

95 amount.

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 96 As a condition of receiving the funds under this paragraph

97 (j), each hospital shall provide monthly reports to the department

98 with detailed information about the allowable expenses of the

99 hospital related to treating Covid-19 patients.

100 (k) Reimbursing hospitals that have more than

101 twenty-five (25) hospitalized Covid-19 patients as of June 21,

102 2020, but were unable to receive a rural provider payment from the

103 United States Department of Health and Human Services because of

104 being located in a county that is part of a metropolitan

105 statistical area and not being designated as a critical access

106 hospital.............................................$ 500,000.00.

107 As a condition of receiving the funds under this paragraph

108 (k), each hospital shall provide monthly reports to the department

109 with detailed information about the allowable expenses of the

110 hospital related to treating Covid-19 patients.

111 (l) For expenses of the department in administering the

112 funds expended under paragraphs (a) through (l) of this section...
113 ..................................................... $ 100,000.00.

114 SECTION 3. The following sum, or so much of it as may be

115 necessary, is appropriated out of any money in the Budget

116 Contingency Fund not otherwise appropriated, to the State

117 Department of Mental Health for the purposes described in Section

118 4 of this act, for the period beginning upon July 1, 2020, and

119 ending December 30, 2020........................... $ 6,400,000.00.

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120 SECTION 4. The funds appropriated under Section 3 of this

121 act shall be expended by the State Department of Mental Health for

122 the following purposes:

123 (a) Providing funds to the fourteen (14) community

124 mental health regions to pay for mental health services provided

125 to persons who are or have been unemployed and/or displaced from

126 their homes due to the Covid-19 pandemic........... $ 1,400,000.00.

127 (b) Increasing the number of substance use beds and

128 related services at the East Mississippi State Hospital in

129 Meridian for the treatment of patients needing those beds and

130 services due to the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic......

131 ................................................... $ 5,000,000.00.

132 SECTION 5. The following sum, or so much of it as may be

133 necessary, is appropriated out of any money in the Budget

134 Contingency Fund not otherwise appropriated, to the Board of

135 Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning for the purposes

136 described in Section 6 of this act, for the period beginning upon
137 July 1, 2020, and ending December 30, 2020........ $ 14,600,000.00.

138 SECTION 6. The funds appropriated under Section 5 of this

139 act shall be expended by the Board of Trustees of State

140 Institutions of Higher Learning for the following purposes:

141 (a) Providing funds to Jackson State University to

142 create the HBCU Response Endowment and the Mississippi Health

143 Disparities Commission program to address the disproportionate

144 impact on the minority community of coronavirus infections and

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145 deaths from Covid-19, by developing and implementing plans to

146 reduce and mitigate those occurrences and negative outcomes in the

147 minority community during the continuation of the current Covid-19

148 public health emergency later this year............ $ 6,000,000.00.

149 (b) Providing funds for the Mississippi Rural

150 Physicians Scholarship Program to pay for an entire medical school

151 class to serve the rural area of our state because the rural

152 communities continue to lack primary coverage to deal with the

153 Covid-19 public health emergency and those communities are in dire

154 need of more primary care physicians to prepare for the expected

155 additional patients during the continuation of the current

156 Covid-19 public health emergency later this year..................

157 ................................................... $ 3,600,000.00.

158 (c) Providing funds to the Office of Physician

159 Workforce for five (5) hospitals to start or expand their

160 physician residency programs to address the dire shortage of

161 physicians in the state, especially primary care physicians, which

162 limits the ability of the state to properly address patient needs

163 and the disproportionate effects on the minority communities

164 during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health

165 emergency, in order for the state to be better prepared to take

166 care of existing Covid-19 patients and the expected additional

167 patients during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public

168 health emergency later this year................... $ 5,000,000.00.

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169 SECTION 7. (1) As used in this section and Section 8 of

170 this act, the term "agency" means the State Department of Health,

171 the State Department of Mental Health or the Board of Trustees of

172 State Institutions of Higher Learning, as the case may be.

173 (2) The agency shall not disburse any funds appropriated

174 under this act to any recipient without first: (a) making, as set

175 forth elsewhere in this act, an individualized determination that

176 the reimbursement sought is, in the agency's independent judgment,

177 for necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health

178 emergency with respect to Covid–19 as provided under Section

179 601(d) of the federal Social Security Act as added by Section 5001

180 of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security

181 (CARES) Act and its implementing guidelines, guidance, rules,

182 regulations and/or other criteria, as may be amended or

183 supplemented from time to time, by the United States Department of

184 the Treasury; and (b) determining that the recipient has not

185 received and will not receive reimbursement for the expense in
186 question from any source of funds, including insurance proceeds,

187 other than those funds provided under Section 601 of the federal

188 Social Security Act as added by Section 5001 of the CARES Act. In

189 addition, the agency shall ensure that all funds appropriated

190 under this act are disbursed in compliance with the Single Audit

191 Act (31 USC Sections 7501-7507) and the related provisions of the

192 Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR Section 200.303 regarding internal

193 controls, Sections 200.330 through 200.332 regarding subrecipient

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194 monitoring and management, and subpart F regarding audit

195 requirements.

196 SECTION 8. (1) As a condition of receiving and expending

197 the funds appropriated to the agency under this act, the agency

198 shall certify to the Department of Finance and Administration that

199 each expenditure of the funds appropriated to the agency under

200 this act is in compliance with the guidelines, guidance, rules,

201 regulations and/or other criteria, as may be amended from time to

202 time, of the United States Department of the Treasury regarding

203 the use of monies from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by

204 the CARES Act.

205 (2) If the Office of Inspector General of the United States

206 Department of the Treasury, or the Office of Inspector General of

207 any other federal agency having oversight over the use of monies

208 from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act (a)

209 determines that the agency has expended or otherwise used any of

210 the funds appropriated to the agency under this act for any
211 purpose that is not in compliance with the guidelines, guidance,

212 rules, regulations and/or other criteria, as may be amended from

213 time to time, of the United States Department of the Treasury

214 regarding the use of monies from the Coronavirus Relief Fund

215 established by the CARES Act, and (b) the State of Mississippi is

216 required to repay the federal government for any of those funds

217 that the Office of the Inspector General determined were expended
218 or otherwise used improperly by the agency, then the agency that

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219 expended or otherwise used those funds improperly shall be

220 required to pay the amount of those funds to the State of

221 Mississippi for repayment to the federal government.

222 SECTION 9. The money appropriated by this act shall be paid

223 by the State Treasurer out of any money in the Budget Contingency

224 Fund not otherwise appropriated, upon warrants issued by the State

225 Fiscal Officer; and the State Fiscal Officer shall issue his

226 warrants upon requisitions signed by the proper person, officer or

227 officers in the manner provided by law.

228 SECTION 10. This act shall take effect and be in force from

229 and after July 1, 2020.

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the Covid-19 pandemic.