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This bill amends N.J.S.A.26:2H-18.57 to establish an assessment on certain licensed ambulatory care facilities, based on the facility's gross receipts, beginning
July 1, 2004. The revenues raised by the assessment will be deposited in the Health Care Subsidy Fund.
The assessment would apply to facilities that are licensed to provide one or more of the following ambulatory care services: ambulatory surgery, computerized axial tomography, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, magnetic resonance imaging, megavoltage radiation oncology, positron emission tomography, orthotripsy and sleep disorder services.
The assessment would not apply to: an ambulatory care facility with annual gross receipts less than $300,000; and an ambulatory care facility that is licensed to a general hospital as on off-site ambulatory facility whose revenues are included in the calculation of total operating revenue for the hospital for the purposes of N.J.S.A.26:2H-18.62 (the .53% assessment).
The bill provides as follows:
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2005, the assessment on these ambulatory care facilities would be as follows:
· a facility with at least $300,000 but less than $1 million in gross receipts shall pay an assessment of $25,000;
· a facility with at least $1 million but less than $2 million in gross receipts shall pay an assessment of $50,000;
· facility with at least $2 million but less than $3 million in gross receipts shall pay an assessment of $75,000;
· a facility with at least $3 million but less than $4 million in gross receipts shall pay an assessment of $100,000; and
· a facility with $4 million or more in gross receipts shall pay an assessment of $150,000.
The Commissioner of Health and Senior Services shall provide notice no later than September 1, 2004 to all facilities that are subject to the assessment, that they are assessed $150,000 for FY 2005. The assessment for a facility with gross receipts less than $4 million for the 2003 tax year will be adjusted accordingly by the commissioner upon submission to the commissioner of acceptable proofs of gross receipts. The FY 2005 assessment shall be payable to the department in four installments, with payments due October 1, 2004, January 1, 2005, March 15, 2005 and June 15, 2005.
For FY 2006, the commissioner shall use the calendar year 2004 data on patient visits, charges and gross revenues, submitted by the facility as required in the bill, to calculate a uniform gross receipts assessment rate to be applied to each facility that is subject to the assessment with gross receipts over $300,000. The FY 2006 rate shall be calculated so as to raise the same amount in the aggregate as was assessed in FY 2005. A facility shall pay its assessment in four payments to the department, as specified by the commissioner.
Beginning in FY 2007 and each year thereafter, the uniform gross receipts assessment rate calculated for FY2006 shall be applied to each facility subject to the assessment with gross receipts over $300,000. A facility shall pay its assessment in four payments to the department, as specified by the commissioner.
Each facility that is subject to the assessment will be required to submit an annual report including, at a minimum, data on volume of patient visits, charges, and gross revenues, by payer type, for patient services, beginning with calendar year 2004 data. A facility that fails to provide the required information shall be liable to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for each day in which the facility is not in compliance.
The department may audit selected annual reports in order to determine their accuracy, and if, upon audit, it is determined that an ambulatory care facility's annual report to the department understated the facility's gross receipts, the facility's assessment, for any fiscal year, that was based on the defective report shall be retroactively increased to the appropriate amount, and the facility shall be liable for a penalty in the amount of the difference between the original and corrected assessment.
A facility that is operating one or more of the ambulatory care services listed in the bill without a license from the department, on or after July 1, 2004, shall be liable for double the amount of the assessment, in addition to such other penalties as the department may assess for operating an ambulatory care facility without a license.
This bill also amends N.J.S.A.26:2H-18.62 to clarify that the .53% assessment applies to general hospitals and specialty heart hospitals, and that total operating revenue shall include revenue from any ambulatory care facility that is licensed to a general hospital as an off-site ambulatory facility.
Source: essexdoctors.org
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