MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Local and Private Legislation

By: Representative Robinson (63rd)

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 880, LOCAL AND PRIVATE LAWS OF 1991, AS AMENDED BY CHAPTER 1009, LOCAL AND PRIVATE LAWS OF 1995, TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF HINDS COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, TO ABOLISH THE HINDS COUNTY COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION AND THE HINDS COUNTY COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION FUND; TO PROVIDE THAT AT SUCH TIME AS THE FUND IS ABOLISHED, ALL MONEYS IN THE FUND SHALL BE DEPOSITED IN THE COUNTY GENERAL FUND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 880, Local and Private Laws of 1991, as amended by Chapter 1009, Local and Private Laws of 1995, is amended as follows:

Section 1. It is hereby determined and declared that for the

benefit of the people of Hinds County, Mississippi, and the

improvement and maintenance of their health and living conditions,

it is essential that the county fulfill its responsibility to

provide for the care of the indigent or needy residents of the

county; that it is the purpose of this act to establish an

alternative method to make funds available to fulfill these

obligations by authorizing the creation, operation, maintenance

and administration of the Hinds County Community Health

Foundation through which health care services in Hinds County to

indigent or needy residents of Hinds County will be provided in an

economical and efficient manner and the cost thereof defrayed, and

through which the level and quality of the welfare of the

residents of Hinds County will be maintained, all to the public

benefit and good, as more fully provided herein. This act shall

not suspend the operation of any general act and shall be

liberally construed in conformity with the intention expressed in

this section.

Section 2. Whenever used in this act, unless a different

meaning clearly appears in the context, the following terms,

whether used in the singular or plural, shall have the following

meanings:

(a) "Board of supervisors" means the Board of

Supervisors of Hinds County, Mississippi.

(b) "County" means Hinds County, Mississippi, acting by

and through its board of supervisors.

(c) "Foundation" means the Hinds County Community

Health Foundation established under this act.

(d) "Fund" means the Hinds County Community Health

Foundation Fund established under this act.

(e) "Hospital" means the existing Methodist Medical

Center, Inc., or other structure, facility, machinery, equipment

and/or other property, real or personal, whether already

constructed and equipped, suitable for use as, or in connection

with, the operation or proposed operations of such hospital or

hospitals.

(f) "Indigent" means an individual or family with an

income which is not more than the current poverty guideline of the

Community Services Administration (as currently set forth in 45

C.F.R. 1060.2-1 et seq.) that applies to the individual or family

for the twelve (12) months preceding the determination of

eligibility for hospital services at the hospital. Only those

persons who reside in Hinds County as of the date upon which the

indigent or his family receives hospital services will be

considered indigents herein.

(g) "Lease agreement" means the hospital lease

agreement dated December 1, 1990, by and among Hinds County,

Mississippi, Methodist Medical Center, Inc., a Mississippi

nonprofit corporation, Methodist Health Systems, Inc., a Tennessee

nonprofit corporation qualified to do business in Mississippi, and

the Board of Trustees of Hinds General Hospital.

(h) "Lessee" means any nonprofit corporation leasing

the hospital from the county under a lease agreement.

(i) "Needy" means those residents of Hinds County whom

the trustees of the fund, as defined herein, in extraordinary

cases deem to be indigent due to hardship, although such

individuals do not meet the income requirements to be indigents as

defined herein.

(j) "Trustees" mean the persons chosen by the board of

supervisors to perform in a manner so as to safeguard the

interests of the people of Hinds County, Mississippi, the

administrative and management duties necessary to fulfill the

purposes of the Hinds County Community Health Foundation and Fund.

If the board of supervisors should assume administration of the

fund as provided in this act, then "trustees" shall refer to the

board of supervisors acting in the position of trustees of the

fund.

Section 3. The board of supervisors is hereby authorized to

establish the Hinds County Community Health Foundation. The board

of supervisors is hereby authorized to fund and deposit into the

Hinds County Community Health Foundation Fund any or all payments

received from the lessee in consideration for the lease of the

hospital. The lessee is authorized, on behalf of the county, to

deposit into the Hinds County Community Health Foundation Fund the

initial payment for net operating assets, as defined in the lease

agreement. In addition to the initial payment for net operating

assets, the trustees shall be authorized to accept public and

private contributions to the fund.

Section 4. (1) The board of supervisors is hereby

authorized to delegate the administration and management of the

fund to the trustees to be chosen in the manner provided herein,

and the trustees shall manage the fund as provided herein.

(2) The fund shall be governed by a board of trustees

consisting of ten (10) members, all of whom shall be appointed by

the Hinds County Board of Supervisors and be qualified electors of

Hinds County. Two (2) members shall be appointed from each supervisors district. Each trustee shall serve for three (3) years; however, the initial appointments may be made for varying terms in order to create a board of trustees serving staggered terms. Any vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the board of

supervisors and shall be for the remainder of the unexpired term.

Each trustee may be compensated per diem in the amount established

by Section 25-3-69, Mississippi Code of 1972, for each meeting of

the trustees at which the trustee was in attendance; and, in

addition thereto, each trustee attending may be compensated travel

expenses at the rate authorized by Section 25-3-41, Mississippi

Code of 1972, for actual mileage traveled to and from the place of

meeting. The entire body of trustees may be dissolved at any time

by the agreement of the board of supervisors if by a majority vote

the board of supervisors finds such dissolution to be in the best

interest of the public. In the case of dissolution, the board of

supervisors shall administer and manage the fund directly, acting

in accordance with the provisions herein, until such time, if any,

the board of supervisors, in its sole discretion, elect to

reestablish a board of trustees in accordance with the procedures

for appointment in this subsection (2).

(3) The trustees shall administer and manage the fund and

deposit the principal and interest income of the fund in a

depository or depositories selected annually by the trustees in

the manner as provided for the selection of county depositories in

Section 27-105-305, Mississippi Code of 1972. The funds shall be

treated as other public funds, except the trustees may invest in

any obligations allowed for counties pursuant to Section 19-9-29,

Mississippi Code of 1972.

Section 5. The fund shall be invested and disbursed as

follows:

(a) The fund shall be divided into two (2) components:

(i) the corpus component, and (ii) the earnings component.

(b) The corpus component of the fund shall consist of

the initial payment for net operating assets as described above,

any additional, subsequent deposits made by the county or other

third party, and ten percent (10%) of the annual income earned

from the investment of the fund. The corpus component shall be

maintained and used to generate interest income and shall not be

invaded or used by the trustees.

(c) The earnings component shall be composed of ninety

percent (90%) of the annual interest earned on the corpus

component of the fund and shall be distributed by the trustees as

described below and to meet the purposes of the Hinds County

Community Health Foundation.

(d) Except as otherwise provided herein, the earnings

component of the fund shall be available solely for payment to the

lessee for the medical treatment rendered at the hospital to

residents from Hinds County who are unable to pay for such

services. Payments to the lessee from the earnings component of

the fund shall be made quarterly upon receipt by the trustees of a

statement verifying the indigency status of each recipient, the

residency of such indigent, and depicting the amount of such

uncompensated care rendered by the lessee during any period

preceding such statement. A system shall be utilized in the

reimbursement of funds expended by the lessee in its provision of

indigent care and shall be as follows:

(i) The lessee shall deliver to the trustees

quarterly statements documenting its provision of indigent care

during such three-month period. Such statements shall be

delivered to the trustees on such date or dates during the quarter

as the board of supervisors and lessee mutually agree, but not

later than the last day of the quarter during which the care

described in the statements was provided. Each statement shall

include the following information:

(A) Service provided;

(B) Charge for service;

(C) Information upon which a determination of

the patient's indigent status was made; and

(D) Patient name, hospital number and

admission date.

(ii) Upon receipt of such statements, the

trustees shall pay to the lessee the cumulative amount of all

unpaid statements received by the trustees to the extent funds are

available. Each such payment shall be due within five (5) days

after the last day of such quarter.

(e) The trustees are to be specifically given the power

and authority in connection with the earnings component of the

fund to do the following:

(i) To assist medically indigent residents in

Hinds County in paying for their inpatient and outpatient care

rendered to them at the hospital.

(ii) To expend funds required in connection with

the management by the trustees of the fund, including but not

limited to payments for per diems, accounting fees, legal fees and

investment advisor or fund management fees.

(f) Any funds not expended from the earnings component

of the trust fund for the above purposes shall be carried forward

into the next quarter and be available for payments in the

subsequent quarters. Nothing herein shall create rights in any

person or entity for indigent or needy care or rights to receive

benefits from the fund, all of which shall be at the discretion of

the trustees.

(g) Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary, the

trustees shall have the discretion in their sole judgment to pay

for health care services rendered at the hospital to nonindigent

residents of Hinds County in cases where there has been a

determination of hardship by the trustees.

Section 6. The fund at the end of the term of the lease

agreement and after the quarterly statements have been paid shall

be terminated, unless otherwise extended by the hospital and the

board of supervisors, and all funds, corpus and undistributed

earnings components disbursed in termination of the fund by the

trustees to the county for the county's unrestricted use. All

other transactions described in the lease agreement are hereby

approved and authorized in all respects.

Section 7. From and after the effective date of House Bill No. 1724, 1999 Regular Session, the board of supervisors may abolish the foundation and the fund by an order adopted by the board and recorded in its official minutes. At such time as the fund is abolished, all moneys that remain in both the corpus component and the earnings component of the fund shall be deposited in the county general fund to be used for other needs of the county.

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