Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 95.djvu/811

 PUBLIC LAW 97-35—AUG. 13, 1981

95 STAT. 785

CHAPTER 3-MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES Sec. 2181. Repeal of EPSDT penalty. Sec. 2182. Flexibility in requiring collection of third-party payments. Sec. 2183. Permitting physician assistants and nurse practitioners to provide certain recertifications. Sec. 2184. Repeal of obsolete authority for medical assistance. Subtitle D—Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec.

2191. 2192. 2193. 2194.

Short title of subtitle. Maternal and child health services block grant. Repeals and conforming amendments. Effective date; transition.

Subtitle A—Provisions Relating to Medicare and Medicaid CHAPTER 1—REIMBURSEMENT CHANGES PAYMENTS TO PROMOTE CLOSING AND CONVERSION OF UNDERUTILIZED HOSPITAL FACILITIES

SEC. 2101. (a) Part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act is amended by adding at the end the following new section: " P A Y M E N T S TO PROMOTE CLOSING AND CONVERSION OF UNDERUTILIZED HOSPITAL FACILITIES

"SEC. 1884. (a) Any hospital may file an application with the 42 USC I395uu. Secretary (in such form and including such data and information as the Secretary may require) for establishment of a transitional allowance under this title with respect to the closing or conversion of an underutilized hospital facility. The Secretary also may establish procedures, consistent with this section, by which a hospital, before undergoing an actual closure or conversion of a hospital facility, can have a determination made as to whether or not it will be eligible for a transitional allowance under this section with respect to such closure or conversion. "(b) If the Secretary finds, after consideration of an application under subsection (a), that— "(1) the hospital's closure or conversion— "(A) is formally initiated after September 30, 1981, "(B) is expected to benefit the program under this title by (i) eliminating excess bed capacity, (ii) discontinuing an underutilized service for which there are adequate alternative sources, or (iii) substituting for the underutilized service some other service which is needed in the area, and "(C) is consistent with the findings of an appropriate health planning agency and with any applicable State program for reduction in the number of hospital beds in the State, and "(2) in the case of a complete closure of a hospital— "(A) the hospital is a private nonprofit hospital or a local governmental hospital, and "(B) the closure is not for replacement of the hospital, the Secretary may include as an allowable cost in the hospital's reasonable cost (for the purpose of making payments to the hospital under this title) an amount (in this section referred to as a 'transitional allowance'), as provided in subsection (c).

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