MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2020 Regular Session

To: Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Parks

Senate Bill 2789

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 4 OF CHAPTER 43 (HOUSE BILL NO. 1649), LAWS OF 2019, TO INCREASE THE CAP ON THE ALLOCATIONS TO THE TRAUMA CARE SYSTEMS FUND FROM THE GENERAL FUND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1.  Section 4 of Chapter 43 (House Bill No. 1649), Laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:

     Of the funds appropriated in this act, * * * Twenty‑eight Million Dollars ($28,000,000.00) Forty Million Dollars ($40,000,000.00) is allocated to the Trauma Care System.  Of the General Fund court assessments provided in Section 1, Seven Million Twenty-three Thousand One Hundred Ninety-seven Dollars ($7,023,197.00) shall be allocated for Trauma Care Systems and One Million Eight Hundred Five Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-nine Dollars ($1,805,859.00) shall be allocated for Emergency Medical Services.  All additional funds are appropriated in Section 2.  The State Department of Health may transfer a portion of Trauma Care System funds to the Division of Medicaid for the development and implementation of an enhanced reimbursement fee program related to trauma care and services, used to match federal funds, under a cooperative agreement between the State Department of Health and the Division of Medicaid.

     It is the intention of the Legislature that none of the funds authorized herein for the Trauma Care System shall be expended to the benefit of any hospital located outside the boundaries of the State of Mississippi, unless otherwise excepted in this paragraph.  Funds shall be expended by the Mississippi Department of Health for distribution to the Regional Medical Center or Le Bonheur Children's Hospital at Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee, or the University of South Alabama Medical Center located in Mobile, Alabama, or the Joseph M. Still Burn Centers, Inc., located in Augusta, Georgia, or the Joseph M. Still Burn and Reconstruction Center at Merit Health Central or any affiliates or any other Level 1 Trauma Center, or Tertiary Pediatric Trauma Center that participates in the Mississippi Trauma Care System, as determined by the Mississippi Department of Health.

     SECTION 2.  This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.