(a)

(1) The Division of Medical Services of the Department of Human Services shall send a notice of assessment to each hospital informing the hospital of the assessment rate, the hospital's net patient revenue calculation, and the estimated assessment amount owed by the hospital for the applicable fiscal year.

(2) Except as set forth in subdivision (a)(3) of this section, annual notices of assessment shall be sent at least forty-five (45) days before the due date for the first quarterly assessment payment of each fiscal year.

(3) The first notice of assessment shall be sent within forty-five (45) days after receipt by the division of notification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the payments required under § 20-77-1908 and, if necessary, the waiver granted under 42 C.F.R. § 433.68 have been approved.

(b) The hospital shall have thirty (30) days from the date of its receipt of a notice of assessment to review and verify the assessment rate, the hospital's net patient revenue calculation, and the estimated assessment amount.

(c)

(1) If a hospital provider operates, conducts, or maintains more than one (1) hospital in the state, the hospital provider shall pay the assessment for each hospital separately.

(2) However, if the hospital provider operates more than one (1) hospital under one (1) Medicaid provider number, the hospital provider may pay the assessment for the hospitals in the aggregate.

(d)

(1) For a hospital subject to the assessment imposed under § 20-77-1902 that ceases to conduct hospital operations or maintain its state license or did not conduct hospital operations throughout a state fiscal year, the assessment for the state fiscal year in which the cessation occurs shall be adjusted by multiplying the annual assessment computed under § 20-77-1902 by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of days during the year that the hospital operated and the denominator of which is three hundred sixty-five (365).

(2)

(A) Immediately upon ceasing to operate, the hospital shall pay the adjusted assessment for that state fiscal year to the extent not previously paid.

(B) The hospital also shall receive payments under § 20-77-1908 for the state fiscal year in which the cessation occurs, which shall be adjusted by the same fraction as its annual assessment.

(e) A hospital subject to an assessment under this subchapter that has not been previously licensed as a hospital in Arkansas and that commences hospital operations during a state fiscal year shall pay the required assessment computed under § 20-77-1902 and shall be eligible for hospital access payments under § 20-77-1908 on the date specified in rules promulgated by the division under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq.

(f) A hospital that is exempted from payment of the assessment under § 20-77-1905 at the beginning of a state fiscal year but during the state fiscal year experiences a change in status so that it becomes subject to the assessment shall pay the required assessment computed under § 20-77-1902 and shall be eligible for hospital access payments under § 20-77-1908 on the date specified in rules promulgated by the division under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq.

(g) A hospital that is subject to payment of the assessment computed under § 20-77-1902 at the beginning of a state fiscal year but during the state fiscal year experiences a change in status so that it becomes exempted from payment under § 20-77-1905 shall be relieved of its obligation to pay the hospital assessment and shall become ineligible for hospital access payments under § 20-77-1908 on the date specified in rules promulgated by the division under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et seq.