Section 27-5-2 - Purpose of Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act.
27-5-2. Purpose of Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act.
The purpose of the Indigent Hospital and County Health Care Act [27-5-1 NMSA 1978] is:
A. to recognize that the individual county of this state is the responsible agency for ambulance transportation or the hospital care or the provision of health care to indigent patients domiciled in that county for at least three months or for such period of time, not in excess of three months, as determined by resolution of the board of county commissioners, and to provide a means whereby each county can discharge this responsibility through a system of payments to ambulance providers, hospitals or health care providers for the care and treatment of, or the provision of health care services to, indigent patients;
B. to recognize that the counties of the state are also responsible for supporting indigent patients by providing local revenues to match federal funds for the state medicaid program, including the provision of matching funds for payments to sole community provider hospitals and the transfer of funds to the county-supported medicaid fund pursuant to the Statewide Health Care Act [27-10-1 NMSA 1978]; and
C. to recognize that the counties of the state can improve the provision of health care to indigent patients by providing local revenues for countywide or multicounty health planning.