"Health Care Cost Reduction Fund" established

a. There is established in the Department of Health a special fund to be known as the "Health Care Cost Reduction Fund." The monies in the Health Care Cost Reduction Fund are hereby appropriated for the purposes and in amounts not to exceed the amounts specified in this subsection: (1) Local health planning - $3 million per year; (2) Demographic study of hospital patients whose accounts are classified as bad debts - $50,000; (3) Primary Care Physician and Dentist Loan Redemption Program - $1 million per year; (4) Provision of funds to community health centers funded under sections 329 or 330 of the "Public Health Service Act," (42 U.S.C. s. 254b, 254c) or which have been designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration in the United States Public Health Service as a Federally Qualified Health Center, to enable these centers to expand their hours of operation to evenings and weekends, and to enhance and advertise their primary health care services as an alternative to hospital emergency rooms - $10 million per year; (5) Expansion of eligibility for the Medicaid program to 185% of the poverty level for pregnant women and infants up to one year of age; (6) Establishment of a "HealthStart Plus" program for pregnant women and infants up to age one whose income is between 185% and 300% of the poverty level - $8 million per year; (7) Establishment of the "Competitive Initiatives Fund" to strengthen relationships between hospitals and community health centers - $6 million per year; and (8) Other reform measures established by law which are designed to contain the cost of uncompensated care. The department shall maintain a separate account for each of the reform measures funded by the Health Care Cost Reduction Fund. b. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, each hospital whose rates are established by the commission pursuant to P.L.1978, c.83 (C.26:2H-1 et al.) shall pay .53% of its approved revenue base for 1991 to the Department of Health for deposit in the Health Care Cost Reduction Fund. The hospital shall make monthly payments to the department for a period of 24 months beginning on the first month following the date of enactment of this act, except that the total amount paid into the Health Care Cost Reduction Fund plus interest shall not exceed $40 million per year. The commissioner shall determine the manner in which the payments shall be made. c. The commissioner shall report to the Senate Institutions, Health and Welfare Committee and the General Assembly Health and Human Services Committee quarterly on the status of the Health Care Cost Reduction Fund. The report shall specify the amount of revenues received by the fund and the specific expenditures made, and proposed to be made, from the fund.