1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to health; providing grants to establish and 
  1.3             maintain health care access offices; appropriating 
  1.4             money; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota 
  1.5             Statutes, chapter 144.  
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  [144.994] [HEALTH CARE ACCESS OFFICE GRANTS.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITION.] For purposes of this section, 
  1.9   a "health care access office" is a nonprofit organization that 
  1.10  increases access to health care services for underserved 
  1.11  individuals by providing a single point of access for:  
  1.12  financial assessment; provision of information on and referrals 
  1.13  to existing health care programs and services, both public and 
  1.14  private; client education and advocacy; counseling; and case 
  1.15  management.  
  1.16     Subd. 2.  [GRANT AWARDS.] (a) The commissioner of health 
  1.17  shall award grants for fiscal year 1996 to two rural communities 
  1.18  to establish health care access offices.  Grant recipients may 
  1.19  use grant money for start-up costs, staff, and operating costs.  
  1.20  In evaluating and ranking grant applications, the commissioner 
  1.21  shall consider:  (1) the percentage of a community's population 
  1.22  that is uninsured or underinsured; (2) the degree to which the 
  1.23  services to be provided by the health care access office would 
  1.24  otherwise be unavailable in the community; and (3) the degree to 
  1.25  which an applicant can demonstrate local support and 
  2.1   cooperation.  The newly established health care access offices 
  2.2   must seek to meet the performance objectives of subdivision 3.  
  2.3      (b) The commissioner shall also provide a grant for fiscal 
  2.4   year 1996 to an existing health care access office to provide 
  2.5   technical assistance to the two rural communities awarded grants 
  2.6   under paragraph (a) and for operating expenses.  The 
  2.7   commissioner shall award the grant to the health care access 
  2.8   office whose current and past performance best meets the 
  2.9   performance objectives established in subdivision 3.  
  2.10     (c) The commissioner shall require all recipients of grants 
  2.11  under this section to provide a local match equal to 30 percent 
  2.12  of the state dollars provided through the grant. 
  2.13     (d) The commissioner may renew grants for two additional 
  2.14  fiscal years, if a grant recipient can demonstrate compliance 
  2.15  with the requirements of this section.  
  2.16     Subd. 3.  [PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES.] A health care access 
  2.17  office must:  
  2.18     (1) provide direct client services, including financial 
  2.19  assistance, provision of information, assisted referral, 
  2.20  advocacy, education, counseling, and case management; 
  2.21     (2) successfully connect at least 75 percent of the clients 
  2.22  seen with needed health care financing or services; 
  2.23     (3) decrease the bad debt load of local health care 
  2.24  providers and clients; 
  2.25     (4) decrease local barriers to access by informing local 
  2.26  health care providers of problems and access barriers identified 
  2.27  by clients; 
  2.28     (5) empower clients, through the development of problem 
  2.29  solving skills and education, to access health care services and 
  2.30  financing and to reduce recidivism and dependency on the health 
  2.31  care access office; and 
  2.32     (6) develop a client tracking system and collect and 
  2.33  analyze data on client access to and utilization of health care 
  2.34  services and financing sources.  
  2.35     Subd. 4.  [REPORT.] The existing health care access office 
  2.36  awarded the grant under subdivision 2, paragraph (b), shall 
  3.1   present a written report to the commissioner by August 1, 1996, 
  3.2   that documents the degree to which the health care access 
  3.3   offices established by rural communities have achieved the 
  3.4   performance objectives in subdivision 3.  
  3.5      Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  3.6      $....... is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  3.7   commissioner of health for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1996, 
  3.8   to provide grants under section 1.  This appropriation remains 
  3.9   in the agency's base for the biennium ending June 30, 1997.