§ 31-7-75-1 — Proceeds of sale of hospital held in trust to fund indigent health care

(a) The proceeds from any sale or lease of a hospital owned by a hospital authority or political subdivision of this state, which proceeds shall not include funds required to pay off the bonded indebtedness of the sold hospital or any expense of the authority or political subdivision attributable to the sale or lease, shall be held by the authority or political subdivision in an irrevocable trust fund. Such proceeds in that fund may be invested in the same way that public moneys may be invested generally pursuant to general law and as permitted under Code Section 31-7-83 , but money in that trust fund shall be used exclusively for funding the provision of health care for the indigent residents of the political subdivision which owned the hospital or by which the authority was activated or for which the authority was created. If the funds available for a political subdivision in that irrevocable trust fund are less than $100,000.00, the principal amount may be used to fund the provision of indigent health care; otherwise, only the income from that fund may be used for that care. Such funding or reimbursement for indigent care shall not exceed the diagnosis related group rate for that hospital in each individual case. (b) In the event a hospital authority which sold or leased a hospital was activated by or created for more than one political subdivision or in the event a hospital having as owner more than one political subdivision is sold or leased by those political subdivisions, each such constituent political subdivision's portion of the irrevocable trust fund for indigent health care shall be determined by multiplying the amount of that fund by a figure having a numerator which is the population of that political subdivision and a denominator which is the combined population of all the political subdivisions which owned the hospital or by which or for which the authority was activated or created. (c) For purposes of health care for the indigent under this Code section, the standard of indigency shall be defined as income that is at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level based on the poverty guidelines established by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. (d) This Code section shall not apply to the following actions: (1) A reorganization or restructuring; (2) Any sale of a hospital, or the proceeds from that sale, made prior to April 2, 1986; and (3) Any sale or lease of a hospital when the purchaser or lessee pledges, by written contract entered into concurrently with such purchase or lease, to provide an amount of health care equal to that which would have otherwise been available pursuant to subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this Code section for the indigent residents of the political subdivisions which owned the hospital, by which the hospital authority was activated, or for which the authority was created. However, the exception to this Code section provided by this paragraph shall only apply to: (A) Hospital authorities that operate a licensed hospital pursuant to a lease from the county which created the appropriate authority; (B) Hospitals that have a bed capacity of more than 150 beds; (C) Hospitals located in a county in which no other medical-surgical licensed hospital is located; (D) Hospitals located in a county having a population of less than 45,000 according to the United States decennial census of 1990; and (E) Hospitals operated by a hospital authority that entered into a lease-purchase agreement between such hospital and a private corporation prior to July 1, 1997.

Legislative History

Amended by 2020 Ga. Laws 471,§ 1, eff. 1/1/2021. Amended by 2019 Ga. Laws 41,§ 3-1, eff. 7/1/2019.