MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2001 Regular Session

To: Universities and Colleges; Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Posey

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COMPLEX WHICH SHALL BE A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN ADDITION TO THE TEACHING HOSPITAL AT THE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER; TO PROVIDE THAT THE MEDICAL COMPLEX SHALL BE LOCATED AT LORMAN, MISSISSIPPI; TO PROVIDE THAT THE MEDICAL COMPLEX SHALL BE COORDINATED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING AS A SATELLITE FACILITY TO THE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER; TO PROVIDE THAT WITHIN TEN YEARS OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT, THE MEDICAL COMPLEX SHALL BE A COMPREHENSIVE HOSPITAL FACILITY; TO PROVIDE THAT THE COMPLEX SHALL OFFER FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENCIES, AND SHALL BE OPERATED ON THE BASIS OF CHARGES FOR SERVICES RENDERED; TO PROVIDE THAT THE LEGISLATURE SHALL APPROPRIATE FUNDS FROM THE TOBACCO HEALTH CARE EXPENDABLE FUND FOR THE CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPPING AND MAINTENANCE OF THE ALCORN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COMPLEX; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) There shall be built, equipped and operated a teaching hospital, together with all ancillary buildings and physical facilities needful or proper for the establishment, operation and maintenance of such a hospital as a part of a fully accredited medical school, including clinical and out-patient services and all types of services deemed to be necessary or desirable, to be established by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning and to be known as the Alcorn State University Medical Complex. There shall also be acquired and installed all needed equipment and supplies for the proper operation and maintenance of such teaching and hospital and other facilities for the purposes aforesaid. There shall be employed all needed personnel and services to operate said teaching hospital and other facilities. The Alcorn State University Medical Complex (teaching hospital) shall be located and built upon lands owned by the State of Mississippi or otherwise conveyed to the State of Mississippi for this purpose in or near the City of Lorman, Mississippi.

(2) The Bureau of Building, Grounds and Real Property Management shall construct the buildings and all other related facilities for said teaching hospital. When such buildings shall have been constructed and made ready for occupancy, the lands, buildings and other improvements erected thereon, shall be conveyed by the bureau to Alcorn State University, and title to said property shall be vested in Alcorn State University.

(3) The Alcorn State University Medical Complex (teaching hospital) shall be operated as departments of Alcorn State University. However, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall provide that said teaching hospital shall be affiliated with the University Medical Center as a satellite facility of the medical center. At the time of its establishment, the teaching hospital shall offer a limited number of medical specialties as determined by the University Medical Center, but the number of medical specialties offered at the hospital shall be gradually expanded so that within ten (10) years from the date of its establishment, it shall be a comprehensive hospital facility offering substantially all of the medical specialties offered at University Medical Center, and residencies shall be established at the new teaching hospital to accomplish this requirement. The teaching hospital shall offer family medicine residencies from the date of its establishment.

(4) The teaching hospital established under this section shall be utilized to serve the people of Mississippi generally. It shall be operated on the basis of charges for services rendered, but there shall be a reasonable volume of free work; however, such volume shall never be less than one-half (1/2) of its respective bed capacity. The income derived from the operation of the teaching hospital shall be utilized toward the payment of the operating expenses of the hospital. The teaching hospital and related facilities shall have the power necessary to enter into group purchasing arrangements as deemed reasonable and necessary and establish rates and charges on any desirable basis.

(5) The Legislature shall appropriate a sum of not less than Thirty Million Dollars ($30,000,000.00) from the Health Care Expendable Fund or any other money deposited in the State Treasury as may be received by the state as settlement of any of the litigation in which the State of Mississippi is a plaintiff or claimant for damages suffered by the state as a result of the use of tobacco or tobacco products by the residents of the state, Mike Moore Attorney General ex rel. State of Mississippi v. The American Tobacco Company et al. (Chancery Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, Cause No. 94-1429), or from any other sources as may be available, for the construction and equipping of the Alcorn State University Medical Complex and any related facilities.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2001.