§ 20-8-203 — Powers and duties

The Arkansas Spinal Cord Commission shall have the following functions, powers, and duties: (1) To identify and cooperate with existing agencies, organizations, and individuals offering services to the spinal cord injured or spina bifida patient for the establishment and integration of a statewide system of treatment, rehabilitation, counseling, and social services by means of entering into cooperative agreement with the agencies, organizations, and individuals. The programs shall be designed and administered to: (A) Provide for coordinated and integrated development and continued review of a full treatment and rehabilitation plan for each qualified applicant patient; (B) Identify all possible and existing funding sources for each type of service identified in the treatment plan for which a qualified patient may be eligible and assist the patient in obtaining funding assistance for which he or she is eligible from existing sources; (C) Assess the patient's financial ability to pay for needed services identified in the treatment plan for which no other funding sources are available; (D) Provide financial assistance for persons unable to pay for the services, including special equipment, without causing unjust and unusual hardship, including, but not limited to, a drastic lowering of the standard of living to the person or his or her immediate family; (E) Identify service needs which cannot be adequately met by existing resources; (F) Provide for increased accountability by documenting the full range of fiscal resources being invested from the various funding sources toward the achievement of each patient's service plan objectives; and (G) Provide an annual report to the Secretary of the Department of Health, to the General Assembly, and to the public documenting areas of success, unresolved problems, and overall cost-benefit analyses of expenditures from the various sources; (2) (A) To develop or cause to be developed an Arkansas spinal cord treatment center and system to serve the entire state through the provision of such direct and indirect services as may be identified and documented as provided in subdivision (1) of this section. (B) The center and system may provide such services as: (i) Specialized emergency and acute care; (ii) Specialized emergency transfer services; (iii) Specialized diagnostic and prescriptive services; (iv) Specialized rehabilitative services; (v) Family education and home care outreach services; (vi) Coordinated services; (vii) Continuing educational services for physicians and other health professionals and paraprofessionals who deal with the spinal cord patient; and (viii) Other services deemed necessary and appropriate by the commission. (C) At such time as an Arkansas spinal cord treatment center is established, the commission shall serve as its board of directors and may either directly administer the operation of the center or may enter into contractual agreements with existing institutions for facilities, staffing, and administrative services or such other services as the commission deems appropriate. (D) (i) Until an Arkansas spinal cord treatment center is established, or after a center is established, the commission may contract and pay for services provided by other institutions whenever the commission determines it to be in the best interest of a spinal cord injured person. (ii) It is the intent of this subchapter that the commission have broad discretion in providing or obtaining for spinal cord injured patients a complete level of services which the commission deems to be in the best interest of the patient, as set forth in this subchapter; (3) To work with all appropriate agencies, organizations, and individuals throughout the state to develop a fully integrated statewide network of coordinated services for spinal cord patients covering all needed services from the detection of spinal cord injuries or congenital conditions through the related phases of emergency care and transfer, acute and definitive care, and rehabilitative and follow-up care and to thus effect a measured reduction in spinal cord-related morbidity and mortality, long-term disability, and long-term maintenance system expenditures of public funds; (4) To provide special expert consultation and services to cooperating and participating agencies, institutions, and individuals, including appropriate elements of the emergency medical services system, on the emergency care and transportation of spinal cord injured persons as well as to other agencies, institutions, and individuals responsible for the delivery of professional medical and health sciences education and training necessary for providing appropriate progressive and evolving specialized programs of treatment of service to spinal cord injured and spina bifida patients; (5) To develop standards for determining eligibility for assistance to defray the cost of care and treatment of spinal cord patients under this program; and (6) To accept gifts, grants, and donations from private sources, from municipal and county governments, from the state, and from the United States Government to be used for the purposes of this subchapter to defray costs incurred by persons suffering from spinal cord disability who are unable to meet the total cost of treatment and rehabilitation and to promote the development of specialized service capability found to be needed but not available.

Legislative History

Amended by Act 2019, No. 910,§ 4960, eff. 7/1/2019. Acts 1975, No. 311, § 4; A.S.A. 1947, § 82-3304.