Title
Request to Maintain Pediatric Health Care Initiative Fund (Ordinance S-45435)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to maintain the Pediatric Health Care Initiative Fund (Fund) established by Ordinance S-41038, dated July 2, 2014, (Ordinance) and to amend the Ordinance to remove the reference to the Safety Net Care Pool (SNCP) to allow the City to leverage other Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) supplemental payments, both existing and under development, and to amend the Ordinance to change references to "H.B. 2010" to "state law."
Report
Summary
In 2014, federal SNCP payments required local match funds. The City Council created the Fund to accept private third-party donations to be transferred to AHCCCS to finance the non-federal share of SNCP payments to eligible freestanding children’s hospitals in the Phoenix area. This transfer arrangement was allowed by Arizona and federal law and is similar to transfer arrangements between AHCCCS and other governmental entities in the state. In December 2017, federal authorization for SNCP expired, with the expectation that it would be replaced with alternative and sustainable Medicaid funding mechanisms. Such replacement Medicaid payments would also require local match dollars. Those replacements include Disproportionate Share Hospital payments, Graduate Medical Education payments, the Access to Professional Services Initiative, as well as others that AHCCCS might develop. Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) § 36-2903.01(P) (DSH) and A.R.S. § 36-2903.01(G)(9)(f) (GME), and A.R.S. § 36-2913(C)(5) (general authority for AHCCCS to accept sources of funds). These changes to the Ordinance will support the continuation of access to high quality specialized pediatric care at Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s.
The Ordinance needs to be amended to eliminate references to SNCP and to allow use of these alternative AHCCCS payment programs and any other programs that may become available in the future for augmentation of funding sources to freestanding children’s hospitals (collectively “AHCCCS Payment Programs”). Additionally, the Ordinance needs to be amended to change any reference to “H.B. 2010,” which referenced SNCP, to “state law."
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The City Council approved Ordinance S-41038 on July 2, 2014.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is requested by Phoenix Children's Hospital and is submitted by the City Manager's Office and the Law and Finance departments.