Section 31-7-280. Health care provider annual reports; form

   (a) As used in this article, the term:

   (1) "Department" means the Department of Community Health.

   (2) "Health care provider" means any hospital or ambulatory surgical or obstetrical facility having a license or permit issued by the department under Article 1 of this chapter.

   (3) "Indigent person" means any person having as a maximum allowable income level an amount corresponding to 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline.

   (4) "Third-party payor" means any entity which provides health care insurance or a health care service plan, including but not limited to providers of major medical or comprehensive accident or health insurance, whether or not through a self-insurance plan, Medicaid, hospital service nonprofit corporation plans, health care plans, or nonprofit medical service corporation plans, but does not mean a specified disease or supplemental hospital indemnity payor.

(b) There shall be required from each health care provider in this state an annual report of certain health care information to be submitted to the department. The report shall be due on the last day of January and shall cover the 12 month period preceding each such calendar year.

(c) The report required under subsection (b) of this Code section shall contain the following information:

   (1) Total gross revenues;

   (2) Bad debts;

   (3) Amounts of free care extended, excluding bad debts;

   (4) Amounts of contractual adjustments;

   (5) Amounts of care provided under a Hill-Burton commitment;

   (6) Amounts of charity care provided to indigent persons;

   (7) Amounts of outside sources of funding from governmental entities, philanthropic groups, or any other sources, including the proportion of any such funding dedicated to the care of indigent persons;

   (8) For cases involving indigent persons:

      (A) The number of persons treated;

      (B) The number of inpatients and outpatients;

      (C) Total patient days;

      (D) The total number of patients categorized by county of residence;

      (E) The indigent care costs incurred by the health care provider by county of residence;

   (9) The public, profit, or nonprofit status of the health care provider and whether or not the provider is a teaching hospital;

   (10) The number of board certified physicians, by specialty, on the staff of the health care provider;

   (11) The number of nursing hours per day for each hospital and per patient visit for each ambulatory surgical or obstetrical facility;

   (12) For ambulatory surgical or obstetrical facilities, the types of surgery performed and emergency back-up systems available for that surgery;

   (13) For hospitals:

      (A) The availability of emergency services, trauma centers, intensive care units, and neonatal intensive care units;

      (B) Procedures hospitals specialize in and the number of such procedures performed annually; and

      (C) Cesarean section rates by number and as a percentage of deliveries; and

   (14) Data available on a recognized uniform billing statement or substantially similar form generally used by health care providers which reflect, but are not limited to, the following type of data obtained during a 12 month period during each reporting period: unique longitudinal nonidentifying patient code, the patient's birth date, sex, race, geopolitical subdivision code, ZIP Code, county of residence, type of bill, beginning and ending service dates, date of admission, discharge date, disposition of the patient, medical or health record number, principal and secondary diagnoses, principal and secondary procedures and procedure dates, external cause of injury codes, diagnostic related group number (DRG), DRG procedure coding used, revenue codes, total charges and summary of charges by revenue code, payor or plan identification, or both, place of service code such as the uniform hospital identification number and hospital name, attending physician and other ordering, referring, or performing physician identification number, and specialty code.

(d) The department shall provide a form for the report required by subsection (b) of this Code section and may provide in such form for further categorical divisions of the information listed in subsection (c) of this Code section.

(e) The department shall, within a period of one year following July 1, 1989, in cooperation with representatives of such consumer groups and associations and health care providers as it shall designate, study and determine such quality indicators and such additional or alternative information related to the intent and purpose of this article as the department shall determine are in the best interests of the residents of this state.

(f) In the event that the department does not receive from a health care provider an annual report containing the data and information required by this article within 30 days following the date such report was due or receives a timely but incomplete report, the department shall notify the health care provider regarding the deficiencies, by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested. In the event such deficiency continues for 15 days after said notification has been given, the health care provider shall be liable for a penalty in the amount of $1,000.00 for such violation and an additional penalty of $500.00 for each day during which such violation continues and be subject to appropriate sanctions otherwise authorized by law, including, but not limited to, suspension or revocation of that provider's permit or license.

Code 1981, § 31-7-280, enacted by Ga. L. 1988, p. 991, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 94, § 31; Ga. L. 1995, p. 745, § 2.1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1201, § 2.1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3; Ga. L. 2006, p. 72, § 31/SB 465; Ga. L. 2008, p. 12, § 2-21/SB 433.