Section 49-4-142. Department of Community Health established; adoption, administration, and modification of state plan; drug application fees

   (a) The Department of Community Health established under Chapter 2 of Title 31 is authorized to adopt and administer a state plan for medical assistance in accordance with Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act, as amended (Act of July 30, 1965, P.L. 89-97, 79 Stat. 343, as amended), provided such state plan is administered within the appropriations made available to the department. The department is authorized to establish the amount, duration, scope, and terms and conditions of eligibility for and receipt of such medical assistance as it may elect to authorize pursuant to this article. Further, the department is authorized to establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary or desirable in order to execute the state plan and to receive the maximum amount of federal financial participation available in expenditures made pursuant to the state plan; provided, however, the department shall establish reasonable procedures for notice to interested parties and an opportunity to be heard prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any such rule or regulation. The department is authorized to enter into such reciprocal and cooperative arrangements with other states, persons, and institutions, public and private, as it may deem necessary or desirable in order to execute the state plan.

(b) The department shall, not later than June 1, 1986, implement a modification of the state plan for medical assistance or any affected rules or regulations of the department, which modification will allow supplementation by relatives or other persons for a private room or private sitter or both for a recipient of medical assistance in a nursing home. The modification to the plan or to any affected rules and regulations shall be effective unless and until federal authorities rule that such modification is out of compliance with federal regulations. Such modification of the state plan for medical assistance or rules and regulations:

   (1) Shall provide that a provider of nursing home services in either a skilled care facility or an intermediate care facility shall be obligated to provide a recipient of medical assistance only semiprivate accommodations which meet the other requirements of appropriate regulations;

   (2) Shall provide that at no time can more than 10 percent of a skilled care or intermediate care facility's rooms be used for Medicaid recipients for whom a private room supplementation has been made;

   (3) Shall provide that payments made by relatives or other persons to a provider of medical assistance for the specific stated purpose of paying the additional costs for a private room or private sitter or both for a recipient of medical assistance in a skilled care facility or intermediate care facility shall not be considered as income when determining the amount of patient liability toward vendor payments; provided, however, that the department's entitlement to payments made by legally liable third parties shall not be diminished by this modification of the state plan;

   (4) Shall provide that no provider of medical assistance shall discriminate against a recipient of medical assistance who does not have a relative or other person who is willing and able to provide supplementation; but the provision of a private room or private sitter to a recipient when supplementation is provided shall not constitute discrimination against other recipients;

   (5) Shall provide that no recipient who is transferred to or admitted to a private room because of a shortage of beds in semiprivate rooms shall be discharged because the recipient does not have a relative or other person who is willing and able to provide supplementation; and

   (6) May provide that the rate charged by the provider of medical assistance to the relative or other person providing supplementation for a private room for a recipient shall not exceed the difference between the maximum rate charged by the provider for a private room to or for a private pay patient and the amount which the provider receives or will receive from the department as reimbursement for otherwise providing for the recipient's care in a semiprivate room.

(c) The department is authorized to establish drug application fees which shall be equal to the department's cost of investigating and determining whether a new drug product should be included in the Controlled Medical Assistance Drug List. Such fees shall be adjusted annually and shall be paid by the drug manufacturers at the time of application.

Ga. L. 1977, p. 384, § 4; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1647, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 517, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 486, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1808, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 49; Ga. L. 1999, p. 296, § 18; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, §§ 1-7, 1-52/HB 228.