Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section1. Section 36-2907.06, Arizona RevisedStatutes, is amended to read:
36-2907.06. Qualifying community health centers; rural health clinics;contracts; requirements; graduate medical education; definition
A. Subject to the availability of monies, theadministration shall enter into an intergovernmental agreement pursuant totitle 11, chapter 7, article 3 with the department of health services tocontract with qualifying community health centers to provide primary healthcare services to indigent or uninsured Arizonans. The department ofhealth services shall enter into one-year contracts with qualifyingcommunity health centers for the centers to provide the following primaryhealth care services:
1. Medical care provided through licensed primarycare physicians and licensed mid-level providers as defined in section 36-2907.05.
2. Prenatal care services.
3. Diagnostic laboratory and imaging services thatare necessary to complete a diagnosis and treatment, including referralservices.
4. Pharmacy services that are necessary to completetreatment, including referral services.
5. Preventive health services.
6. Preventive dental services.
7. Emergency services performed at the qualifyingcommunity health center.
8. Transportation for patients to and from thequalifying community health center if these patients would not receive carewithout this assistance.
B. A contract entered into pursuant to subsection Aof this section may include urgent care services for walk-in patients.
C. Each contract shall require that the qualifyingcommunity health center provide the services prescribed in subsection A of thissection to persons who the qualifying community health centerdetermines:
1. Are residents of this state.
2. Are without medical insurance policy coverage.
3. Do not have a family income of more than twohundred percent of the federal poverty guidelines.
4. Have provided verification that the person is noteligible for enrollment in the Arizona health care cost containment systempursuant to this chapter.
5. Have provided verification that the person is noteligible for medicare.
D. The department of health services shall directlyadminister the program and issue requests for proposals for the contractsprescribed in this section. Contracts established pursuant tosubsection A of this section shall be signed by the department and thecontractor before the transmission of any tobacco tax and health care fundmonies to the contractor.
E. Persons who meet the eligibility criteriaestablished in subsection C or H of this section shall be charged for servicesbased on a sliding fee schedule approved by the department of health services.
F. In awarding contracts, the department of healthservices may give preference to qualifying community health centers that have asliding fee schedule. Monies shall be used for the number ofpatients that exceeds the number of uninsured sliding fee schedule patientsthat the qualifying community health center served during fiscal year1994. Each qualifying community health center shall make its slidingfee schedule available to the public on request. The contract shallrequire the qualifying community health center to apply a sliding fee scheduleto all of its uninsured patients.
G. The department of health services may examine therecords of each qualifying community health center and conduct audits necessaryto determine that the eligibility determinations were performed accurately andto verify the number of uninsured patients served by the qualifying communityhealth center as a result of receiving tobacco tax and health care fund moniesby the contract established pursuant to subsection A of this section.
H. Contracts established pursuant to subsection A ofthis section shall require qualifying community health center contractors tosubmit information as required pursuant to section 36-2907.07 for programevaluations.
I. Beginning March 1, 2022 October 1, 2024, the administration shallestablish, contingent on approval by the centers for medicare andmedicaid services, a separate graduatemedical education program to reimburse qualifying community health centers andrural health clinics that have an approved primary care graduate medicaleducation program shall annually distribute moniesappropriated for primary care graduate medical education services to qualifyingcommunity health centers and rural health clinics for direct and indirect costs. Theadministration shall:
1. Distribute to qualifying communityhealth centers and rural health clinics any monies appropriated for graduatemedical education for the direct and indirect costs of primary care graduatemedical education programs that are established by qualifying community healthcenters and rural health clinics and that are approved by the administration.
2. 1. Adoptrules specifying the formula by which the monies are distributed.
3. 2. Requireeach primary care graduate medical education program that receives moniespursuant to paragraph 1 of this subsection to identify andreport to the administration the number of new residency positions created withthose monies, including positions in rural areas. Each program shall also reportinformation related to the number of funded residency positions that resultedin physicians locating their practices in this state. Theadministration shall report to the joint legislative budget committee on orbefore July 1 of each year on the number of new residency positions as reportedby the primary care graduate medical education programs pursuant to thisparagraph.
4. Coordinate with local, county and tribalgovernments and any university under the jurisdiction of the Arizona board ofregents that may provide monies in addition to any state general fund moniesappropriated for primary care graduate medical education in order to qualifyfor additional matching federal monies for programs or positions in a specificlocality. Payments by the administration pursuant to this paragraphmay be limited to those providers designated by the funding entity and may bebased on any methodology deemed appropriate by the administration, includingreplacing any payments that might otherwise have been paid pursuant to paragraph 1 of this subsection had sufficient state general fundmonies or other monies been appropriated to fully fund thosepayments. These programs, positions and payment methodologies mustbe approved by the administration and the centers for medicare and medicaidservices. The administration shall report to the president of the senate, thespeaker of the house of representatives and the director of the jointlegislative budget committee on or before July 1 of each year on the amount ofmonies contributed and the number of residency positions funded by local,county and tribal governments and any university under the jurisdiction of theArizona board of regents, including the amount of federal matching monies used.
J. For the purposes of this section,"qualifying community health center" means a community-basedprimary care facility that provides medical care in medically underserved areasas provided in section 36-2352, or in medically underserved areas ormedically underserved populations as designated by the United States departmentof health and human services, through the employment of physicians,professional nurses, physician assistants or other health care technical andparaprofessional personnel.
