Section 623-C:1 Medical Services for County Prisoners.
   I. (a) Except as provided in subparagraphs (b) through (f), no hospital or emergency room shall charge a county or its agent more than 110 percent of the medicare allowable rate for inpatient or emergency room care provided for prisoners in county correctional facilities.
      (b) Allowances provided by hospitals shall qualify as community benefits under RSA 7:32-d, III(b).
      (c) Hospitals reported by the department of health and human services as having a negative operating margin in the most recent year for which hospital-audited financial data is available shall charge no more than 125 percent of the medicare rate.
      (d) The superintendent of a county correctional facility may waive the application of subparagraph (a) if the superintendent determines such action is necessary to ensure prisoner access to medically necessary care.
      (e) The superintendent of a county correctional facility may waive the application of subparagraph (a) if the superintendent determines such action to be necessary for the efficient operations of the county correctional facility.
      (f) Nothing in this paragraph shall require a hospital to admit any person.
   II. Pharmacists shall substitute generically equivalent drug products for all legend and non-legend prescriptions paid for by the county department of corrections, including the medicaid program, unless the prescribing practitioner specifies that the brand name drug product is medically necessary. Such notification shall be in the practitioner's own handwriting and shall be retained in the pharmacist's file. The superintendent may waive the application of RSA 623-C:1, I if the superintendent determines such action is necessary to ensure the availability of prescription and other pharmaceutical services to persons served by the county or to avert serious economic hardship in the provision of prescriptions and other pharmaceutical services. The county commissioners shall adopt necessary rules and regulations to implement this paragraph.
Source. 2004, 218:1, eff. June 11, 2004.