Oklahoma Legislature Approves Bill That Would Create Hospital Authority Supporting Tulsa-Area Indigent Care

Oklahoma lawmakers passed a bill (HB 2901) on May 21 that would effectively create a hospital district in Tulsa for the purpose of funding indigent health care, the Daily Oklahoman reports. The bill passed the House 68-32 and the Senate 32-8 and awaits the signature of Gov. Frank Keating (R) (Money, Daily Oklahoman, 5/22). The bill would establish a community hospitals authority for health systems statewide that spend at least $5 million per year on indigent care and are not already reimbursed by public funds. In addition, health systems in the authority would have to be located in cities with a population greater than 375,000 that lack a health care system that is "statutorily charged" with providing indigent care. Some Tulsa-area hospitals would meet the criteria (Price, Oklahoma City Journal Record, 5/22). The authority would funnel state funds to Tulsa hospitals to pay for graduate-level doctors, which provide much of the city's indigent care. The federal government would give $2.40 to the authority for each dollar the state contributes. Tulsa hospitals lost $83 million in 2000 providing nonreimbursed indigent care, Tulsa World reports (Tulsa World , 5/21). In addition to creating the hospital authority, the bill would increase state driver's license fees by $1.50, to $6 total, to help fund trauma care centers (Oklahoma City Journal Record, 5/22). The increased fee would bring in an additional $3.6 million per year (Daily Oklahoman, 5/22).