MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2020 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Representatives Mims, Mickens, Paden, Dortch, Foster, Hines, Johnson, Bell (65th), McCray, Thompson
AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FROM THE BUDGET CONTINGENCY FUND TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING FOR THE PURPOSES OF ADDRESSING OR RELATED TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following sum, or so much of it as may be necessary, is appropriated out of any money in the Budget Contingency Fund not otherwise appropriated, to the State Department of Health for the purposes described in Section 2 of this act, for the period beginning upon July 1, 2020, and ending December 30, 2020. $ 100,399,500.00.
SECTION 2. The funds appropriated under Section 1 of this act shall be expended by the State Department of Health for the following purposes:
(a) Purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE) from one or more wholesalers to be provided to the surgery centers licensed by the department, for themselves and their office staff, for protection against Covid-19 from current patients, and to have sufficient PPE in preparation for the expected new cases during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year.......... $ 562,500.00.
(b) Purchasing PPE from one or more wholesalers to be provided to the permitted EMS units licensed by the department, for staff, for protection against Covid-19 from current patients, and to have sufficient PPE in preparation for the expected new cases during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year $ 933,000.00.
(c) Purchasing PPE from one or more wholesalers to be provided to the nursing homes licensed by the department, for themselves and their office staff, for protection against Covid-19 from current patients, and to have sufficient PPE in preparation for the expected new cases during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year......................................................
................................................ $ 1,055,000.00.
(d) Purchasing PPE from one or more wholesalers to be provided to dentists licensed by the Board of Dental Examiners, for themselves and their office staff, for protection against Covid-19 from current patients, and to have sufficient PPE in preparation for the expected new cases during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year.......................................
................................................ $ 4,224,000.00.
(e) Providing additional funds to the Federally Qualified Health Centers in the state to recruit and pay additional physicians for a limited period of time, who are needed because the other physicians of the centers will be treating patients with Covid-19, and to properly address the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency and treating those patients...................... $ 1,500,000.00.
(f) Providing funds to the Mississippi Center for Rural Health Innovation within the Office of Rural Health of the department, as established by House Bill No. 94, 2020 Regular Session, for assisting rural hospitals with understanding how to best operate during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, focusing on the loss of revenue for hospitals below their normal revenue stream due to circumstances caused by the pandemic, and making sure that correct personnel are in place in the hospitals who have the requisite expertise to properly address the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency.......... $ 1,600,000.00.
(g) Providing funds for community workers with the Office of Community Engagement of the department who are involved in minority and low income areas to help educate the residents of those areas about Covid-19 and assist them in learning how to prevent infections from the coronavirus...................................... $ 1,925,000.00.
(h) Providing funds to Tate County, Mississippi, to be disbursed to the North Oak Regional Medical Center or its successor entity, which funding the Legislature finds is a necessary expenditure incurred due to the Covid-19 public health emergency, since such funding is necessary to allow the medical center to continue in operations during the current Covid-19 public health emergency...... $ 2,000,000.00.
(i) Providing funds to the MAGnet Community Health Disparity Program, whose mission is to strengthen collaboration and coordination for improved health access, performance, outcomes and cost efficiencies and whose vision is to improve the health status for all Mississippians through integrated health, which funding shall to be used to address the disproportionate impact on the minority community of coronavirus infections and deaths from Covid-19, by developing and implementing plans to reduce and mitigate those occurrences and negative outcomes in the minority community during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year................. $ 6,000,000.00.
(j) Reimbursing hospitals for their necessary expenditures incurred due to the Covid-19 public health emergency.............
............................................... $ 80,000,000.00.
The department shall determine the maximum possible amount available to each hospital using a formula based on the total number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients that the hospital treated as of June 21, 2020, and the number of Mississippi licensed hospital beds in the hospital. A hospital shall be eligible to receive the amount determined under that formula or the actual amount of the necessary expenditures incurred by the hospital due to the Covid-19 public health emergency, whichever is the lesser amount.
As a condition of receiving the funds under this paragraph (j), each hospital shall provide monthly reports to the department with detailed information about the allowable expenses of the hospital related to treating Covid-19 patients.
(k) Reimbursing hospitals that have more than twenty-five (25) hospitalized Covid-19 patients as of June 21, 2020, but were unable to receive a rural provider payment from the United States Department of Health and Human Services because of being located in a county that is part of a metropolitan statistical area and not being designated as a critical access hospital.............................................$ 500,000.00.
As a condition of receiving the funds under this paragraph (k), each hospital shall provide monthly reports to the department with detailed information about the allowable expenses of the hospital related to treating Covid-19 patients.
(l) For expenses of the department in administering the funds expended under paragraphs (a) through (k) of this section........
.................................................. $ 100,000.00.
SECTION 3. The following sum, or so much of it as may be necessary, is appropriated out of any money in the Budget Contingency Fund not otherwise appropriated, to the State Department of Mental Health for the purposes described in Section 4 of this act, for the period beginning upon July 1, 2020, and ending December 30, 2020... $ 6,400,000.00.
SECTION 4. The funds appropriated under Section 3 of this act shall be expended by the State Department of Mental Health for the following purposes:
(a) Providing funds to the fourteen (14) community mental health regions to pay for mental health services provided to persons who are or have been unemployed and/or displaced from their homes due to the Covid-19 pandemic................................ $ 1,400,000.00.
(b) Increasing the number of substance use beds and related services at the East Mississippi State Hospital in Meridian for the treatment of patients needing those beds and services due to the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic................................
................................................ $ 5,000,000.00.
SECTION 5. The following sum, or so much of it as may be necessary, is appropriated out of any money in the Budget Contingency Fund not otherwise appropriated, to the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning for the purposes described in Section 6 of this act, for the period beginning upon July 1, 2020, and ending December 30, 2020 $ 14,600,000.00.
SECTION 6. The funds appropriated under Section 5 of this act shall be expended by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning for the following purposes:
(a) Providing funds to Jackson State University to create the HBCU Response Endowment and the Mississippi Health Disparities Commission program to address the disproportionate impact on the minority community of coronavirus infections and deaths from Covid-19, by developing and implementing plans to reduce and mitigate those occurrences and negative outcomes in the minority community during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year.. $ 6,000,000.00.
(b) Providing funds for the Mississippi Rural Physicians Scholarship Program to pay for an entire medical school class to serve the rural area of our state because the rural communities continue to lack primary coverage to deal with the Covid-19 public health emergency and those communities are in dire need of more primary care physicians to prepare for the expected additional patients during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year.....
................................................ $ 3,600,000.00.
(c) Providing funds to the Office of Physician Workforce for five (5) hospitals to start or expand their physician residency programs to address the dire shortage of physicians in the state, especially primary care physicians, which limits the ability of the state to properly address patient needs and the disproportionate effects on the minority communities during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency, in order for the state to be better prepared to take care of existing Covid-19 patients and the expected additional patients during the continuation of the current Covid-19 public health emergency later this year........................ $ 5,000,000.00.
SECTION 7. (1) As used in this section and Section 8 of this act, the term "agency" means the State Department of Health, the State Department of Mental Health or the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, as the case may be.
(2) The agency shall not disburse any funds appropriated under this act to any recipient without first: (a) making, as set forth elsewhere in this act, an individualized determination that the reimbursement sought is, in the agency's independent judgment, for necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to Covid–19 as provided under Section 601(d) of the federal Social Security Act as added by Section 5001 of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and its implementing guidelines, guidance, rules, regulations and/or other criteria, as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, by the United States Department of the Treasury; and (b) determining that the recipient has not received and will not receive reimbursement for the expense in question from any source of funds, including insurance proceeds, other than those funds provided under Section 601 of the federal Social Security Act as added by Section 5001 of the CARES Act. In addition, the agency shall ensure that all funds appropriated under this act are disbursed in compliance with the Single Audit Act (31 USC Sections 7501-7507) and the related provisions of the Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR Section 200.303 regarding internal controls, Sections 200.330 through 200.332 regarding subrecipient monitoring and management, and subpart F regarding audit requirements.
SECTION 8. (1) As a condition of receiving and expending the funds appropriated to the agency under this act, the agency shall certify to the Department of Finance and Administration that each expenditure of the funds appropriated to the agency under this act is in compliance with the guidelines, guidance, rules, regulations and/or other criteria, as may be amended from time to time, of the United States Department of the Treasury regarding the use of monies from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act.
(2) If the Office of Inspector General of the United States Department of the Treasury, or the Office of Inspector General of any other federal agency having oversight over the use of monies from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act (a) determines that the agency has expended or otherwise used any of the funds appropriated to the agency under this act for any purpose that is not in compliance with the guidelines, guidance, rules, regulations and/or other criteria, as may be amended from time to time, of the United States Department of the Treasury regarding the use of monies from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act, and (b) the State of Mississippi is required to repay the federal government for any of those funds that the Office of the Inspector General determined were expended or otherwise used improperly by the agency, then the agency that expended or otherwise used those funds improperly shall be required to pay the amount of those funds to the State of Mississippi for repayment to the federal government.
SECTION 9. The money appropriated by this act shall be paid by the State Treasurer out of any money in the Budget Contingency Fund not otherwise appropriated, upon warrants issued by the State Fiscal Officer; and the State Fiscal Officer shall issue his warrants upon requisitions signed by the proper person, officer or officers in the manner provided by law.
SECTION 10. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2020.