PRINTER'S NO. 2290
No. 1590 Session of 2000
INTRODUCED BY KASUNIC, NOVEMBER 15, 2000
REFERRED TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE, NOVEMBER 15, 2000
AN ACT 1 Establishing a pilot program creating a pulmonary disease 2 center; and making an appropriation. 3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 4 hereby enacts as follows: 5 Section 1. Short title. 6 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Pulmonary 7 Disease Center Act. 8 Section 2. Legislative findings. 9 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows: 10 (1) Medical diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary disease 11 patients have shown lack of proper disease management 12 education, diagnostic screening and rehabilitation follow-up 13 which have had numerous detrimental effects on patient care 14 and wellness. 15 (2) Increased length of hospitalization, development of 16 new medical conditions and increased severity of initial 17 medical conditions have resulted from poor pulmonary
1 diagnostics. 2 (3) Heavy financial burdens have resulted due to 3 improper patient management. 4 (4) Present utilization of in-hospital pulmonary 5 diagnostics has not allowed for adequate teaching, 6 utilization of equipment or rehabilitation. 7 Section 3. Legislative intent. 8 It is the intent of the General Assembly to establish a pilot 9 program in a region lacking a successful pulmonary disease 10 management program creating a pulmonary disease center which 11 will present a more favorable environment for pulmonary health 12 diagnostics and education of the acute and chronically ill as 13 well as their families and caregivers. 14 Section 4. Definitions. 15 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall 16 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the 17 context clearly indicates otherwise: 18 "Department." The Department of Health of the Commonwealth. 19 "Master Settlement Agreement." The settlement agreement and 20 related documents entered into on November 23, 1998, by the 21 Commonwealth and leading United States tobacco product 22 manufacturers and approved by the court in Commonwealth v. 23 Philip Morris, April Term 1997, No. 2443 (C.P. Philadelphia 24 County), on January 13, 1999. 25 Section 5. Pulmonary disease center pilot program. 26 (a) Implementation.--The department shall implement a pilot 27 program creating a pulmonary disease center in Fayette County. 28 (b) Objectives.--The department shall consider the following 29 objectives in creating the pulmonary disease center: 30 (1) Improvement of patient diagnostics and treatment 20000S1590B2290 - 2 -
1 through: 2 (i) Easy access and scheduling. 3 (ii) Increased availability of medical and therapy 4 programs including: 5 (A) Onsite education programs. 6 (B) Serial diagnostic testing. 7 (C) Intervention for on-call patients to discuss 8 acute condition. 9 (D) Pulmonary rehabilitation. 10 (E) Utilization of newest equipment. 11 (2) Improvement of utilization through: 12 (i) Physician marketing and referrals. 13 (ii) Physician awareness of available diagnostics 14 and need for aggressive testing of patients. 15 (iii) Marketing services to community education, 16 school and work groups. 17 (iv) Management of patients that require education 18 and testing to stabilize condition. 19 (v) Management of indigent patients that have become 20 a financial burden to a hospital or this Commonwealth. 21 Section 6. Appropriation. 22 The sum of $10,000,000, or as much thereof as may be 23 necessary, is hereby appropriated to the Department of Health 24 from the moneys received by the Commonwealth from the Master 25 Settlement Agreement for the fiscal year July 1, 2001, to June 26 30, 2002, to carry out the provisions of this act. 27 Section 7. Effective date. 28 This act shall take effect in 60 days. K3L35MSP/20000S1590B2290 - 3 -