Nueces County Hospital District gets a doctor grant program

The text as introduced · 395 words

89R9597 MPF-F

By: Hinojosa of Hidalgo
S.B. No. 2666

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the establishment of a grant program to allow the Nueces

County Hospital District to recruit and retain certain medical

professionals.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 281.094(b), Health and Safety Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(b) The board of the Nueces County Hospital District may use

funds made available to the district from any source to fund:

(1) indigent health care; [ and ]

(2) intergovernmental transfers from the district to

the state for use as the nonfederal share of Medicaid supplemental

payment program or waiver program payments for eligible health care

providers located inside or outside the district's boundaries,

including, but not limited to, any payments available through a

waiver granted under Section 1115, Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.

Section 1315), or other similar payment programs, subject to the

limitation prescribed by Subsection (c) ; and

(3) the grant program established under Section

281.0941 .

SECTION 2. Subchapter E, Chapter 281, Health and Safety

Code, is amended by adding Section 281.0941 to read as follows:

Sec. 281.0941. NUECES COUNTY HOSPITAL DISTRICT GRANT

PROGRAM. (a) The board of the Nueces County Hospital District

shall establish and administer a grant program for hospitals

located in the hospital district to provide the funding necessary

to:

(1) allow hospitals in the district to:

(A) retain physicians currently practicing at

those hospitals; and

(B) recruit physicians who practice medicine in a

specialty for which there is limited access in the hospital

district to practice at those hospitals; and

(2) increase the number of residency positions at

hospitals in the district.

(b) The board of the hospital district shall:

(1) prescribe the manner in which a hospital in the

district may apply for a grant under this section;

(2) establish eligibility and selection criteria for a

hospital to be awarded a grant under this section; and

(3) establish accountability controls for hospitals

awarded a grant under this section to ensure:

(A) the grant is used in a manner that is

consistent with the public purpose of providing medical and

hospital care for the indigent residents of the district; and

(B) the district receives a benefit in return for

the award of the grant.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.