Sec. 61.025. COUNTY AGREEMENT WITH MUNICIPALITY. (a) This section applies to a municipality that has a population of less than 15,000, that owns, operates, or leases a hospital, and that has made a transfer agreement before August 31, 1989, by the adoption of an ordinance, resolution, or order by the commissioners court and the governing body of the municipality.

(b) The transfer agreement may transfer partial responsibility to the county under which the municipal hospital continues to provide health care services to eligible residents of the municipality, but the county agrees to assume the hospital's responsibility to reimburse other providers who provide:

(1) mandatory inpatient or outpatient services to eligible residents that the municipal hospital cannot provide; or

(2) emergency services to eligible residents.

(c) The hospital is a public hospital for the purposes of this chapter, but it does not have a responsibility to provide reimbursement for services it cannot provide or for emergency services provided in another facility.

(d) Expenditures made by the county under Subsection (b) may be credited toward eligibility for state assistance under this subchapter if the person who received the health care services meets the eligibility standards established under Section 61.052 and would have been eligible for assistance under the county program if the person had not resided in a public hospital's service area.

(e) The agreement to transfer partial responsibility to a county under this section must take effect on a September 1 that occurs not later than two years after the date on which the county and municipality agree to the transfer. A county and municipality may not revoke or amend an agreement made under this section, except that the county may revoke or amend the agreement if a hospital district is created after the effective date of the agreement and the boundaries of the district cover all or part of the county.

(f) The county, the hospital, and any other entity in the county that provides services under this chapter shall adopt coordinated application and eligibility verification procedures. In establishing the coordinated procedures, the county and other entities shall focus on facilitating the efficient and timely referral of residents to the proper entity in the county. In addition, the procedures must comply with the requirements of Sections 61.024 and 61.053. Expenditures made by a county in establishing the coordinated procedures prescribed by this section may not be credited toward eligibility for state assistance under this subchapter.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989. Amended by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1103, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997; Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1377, Sec. 1.07, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.