(a) All departments and divisions of the state, including, but not limited to, the Bureau of Employment Programs; the division of health and the division of human services within the Department of Health and Human Resources; the Public Employees Insurance Agency within the Department of Administration; the Division of Rehabilitation Services; the workers' compensation commission; or the other department or division as shall supervise or provide rehabilitation; and the university of West Virginia board of trustees, as the governing board for the state's medical schools, are authorized and directed to cooperate in order, among other things, to ensure the quality of the health care services delivered to the beneficiaries of the departments and divisions and to ensure the containment of costs in the payment for services.

(b) It is expressly recognized that no other entity may interfere with the discretion and judgment given to the single state agency which administers the state's Medicaid program. Thus, it is the intention of the Legislature that nothing contained in this article shall be interpreted, construed or applied to interfere with the powers and actions of the single state agency which, in keeping with applicable federal law, shall administer the state's Medicaid program as it perceives to be in the best interest of that program and its beneficiaries.

(c) The departments and divisions shall develop a plan or plans to ensure that a reasonable and appropriate level of health care is provided to the beneficiaries of the various programs including the Public Employees Insurance Agency and the workers' compensation fund, the Division of Rehabilitation Services and, to the extent permissible, the state Medicaid program. The plan or plans may include, among other things, and the departments and divisions are hereby authorized to enter into:

(1) Utilization review and quality assurance programs;

(2) The establishment of a schedule or schedules of the maximum reasonable amounts to be paid to health care providers for the delivery of health care services covered by the plan or plans. The schedule or schedules may be either prospective in nature or cost reimbursement in nature, or a mixture of both: Provided, That any payment methods or schedules for institutions which provide inpatient care shall be institution-specific and shall, at a minimum, take into account a disproportionate share of Medicaid, charity care and medical education: Provided, however, That in no event may any rate set in this article for an institutional health care provider be greater than the institution's current rate established and approved by the health care cost review authority pursuant to article twenty-nine-b of this chapter;

(3) Provisions for making payments in advance of the receipt of health care services by a beneficiary, or in advance of the receipt of specific charges for the services, or both;

(4) Provisions for the receipt or payment of charges by electronic transfers;

(5) Arrangements, including contracts, with preferred provider organizations; and

(6) Arrangements, including contracts, with particular health care providers to deliver health care services to the beneficiaries of the programs of the departments and divisions at agreed-upon rates in exchange for controlled access to the beneficiary populations.

(d) The director of the Public Employees Insurance Agency shall contract with an independent actuarial company for a review every four years of the claims experience of all governmental entities whose employees participate in the Public Employees Insurance Agency program, including, but not limited to, all branches of state government, all state departments or agencies (including those receiving funds from the federal government or a federal agency), all county and municipal governments or any other similar entity for the purpose of determining the cost of providing coverage under the program, including administrative cost, to each governmental entity.

(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to give or reserve to the Legislature any further or greater power or jurisdiction over the operations or programs of the various departments and divisions affected by this article than that already possessed by the Legislature in the absence of this article.

(f) For the purchase of health care or health care services by a health care provider participating in a plan under this section on or after September 1, 1989, by the Public Employees Insurance Agency, the Division of Rehabilitation Services and the workers' compensation commission, a state check shall be issued in payment thereof within sixty-five days after a legitimate uncontested invoice is actually received by the division, commission or agency. Any state check issued after sixty-five days shall include interest at the current rate, as determined by the State Tax Commissioner under the provisions of section seventeen-a, article ten, chapter eleven of this code. The interest shall be calculated from the sixty-sixth day after the invoice was actually received by the commission or agency until the date on which the state check is mailed to the vendor.