Bill Summaries: S%20235 ESTABLISH ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RARE DISEASES.

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  • Summary date: Apr 21 2015 - View Summary

    Senate committee substitute to the 1st edition deletes all provisions of the previous edition and replaces it with the following.

    Enacts new Part 5, Advisory Council on Rare Diseases, in Article 1B of GS Chapter 130A. Establishes the Advisory Council on Rare Diseases (Council) to advise the Secretary of Health and Human Services on research, diagnosis, treatment, and education relating to rare diseases. Sets out membership requirements, including ex officio members, and requires appointments to the Council to be made no later than 30 days after the effective date of the section. Sets out other provisions concerning the Council's functioning. Establishes the Council's 10 powers and duties, including coordinating statewide efforts for the study of the incidence of rare disease within the state and the status of the rare disease community; researching and identifying priorities relating to the quality and cost-effectiveness of, and access to, treatment and services provided to persons with rare diseases in the state and developing policy recommendations on those issues; and identifying best practices for rare disease care from other states and at the national level that will improve rare disease care in this state. Effective July 1, 2015.

    Changes the act's short and long titles.


  • Summary date: Mar 10 2015 - View Summary

    Creates the North Carolina Public Health Authority, with administrative direction over the Division of Public Health and the Institute for Public Improvement. Abolishes all programs in the Division of Public Health in the Department of Health and Human Services except the following four programs, to be administered by the State Health Director: (1) State Lab, (2) Vital Records, (3) Medical Examiner, and (4) Public Health Emergency Response. Transfers all functions, powers, duties, and obligations previously vested in the Division of Environmental Health in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the Division of Public Health as a Type I transfer.

    Enacts new Article 1C, State Public Health Authority, in GS Chapter 130A to create the State Public Health Authority (Authority) as a state agency to perform essential governmental and public functions under supervision of the Authority Board. Creates a 13-member Authority Board (Board) to govern the Authority, with membership as specified. Specifies that each appointing authority will appoint members who reside in one of the four regional public health authorities in the state. Details additional membership provisions, including terms, removal, ethics, compensation, and the Board's duty to adopt bylaws. Enumerates 17 powers and duties of the Authority Board, including the power to construct and maintain public health facilities and the power to adopt and enforce a professional reimbursement policy, as detailed.

    Provides that the Authority has the power to establish and operate health care networks and may contract with other public health authorities or local health departments to provide public health services, provided the Authority complies with the Health Maintenance Organization Act (Article 67 of GS Chapter 58) as required, for the purposes of this provision.

    Permits the Authority to lease any public health facility to a nonprofit association or to any corporation authorized to do business in the state, as specified. Prohibits the Authority from selling or conveying any rights in any public health facility to any corporation or business entity operated for profit, except when the Authority sells surplus buildings, land, or equipment. Permits the Authority to purchase insurance and specifies that the purchase waives the Authority's governmental immunity, to the extent of the coverage, for any act or omission that occurs in the exercise of a governmental function. Sets forth additional provisions related to insurance and governmental immunity.

    Specifies that the Institute for Public Health Improvement executive director is an employee of the Authority Board, to perform public health duties under the Board's supervision, with five specified powers and duties.

    Enacts new GS 130A-46 to establish the Institute for Public Health Improvement (Institute), tasked with administering all state and federal public health appropriations and grants and providing public health administration through four regional authorities. Establishes four regional public health authorities, located in Asheville, Kannapolis, Greenville, and Wilmington, to administer public health services in North Carolina. Describes the coverage areas for each respective regional authority. Authorizes a county to select a regional public health authority to serve as the public health department for the county.

    Directs the Office of State Budget and Management to transfer any funds appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services for 2015-16 or 2016-17 for public health programs abolished by this act to the Authority for allocation to the Institute. Specifies that only health departments accredited by the Local Health Department Accreditation Board or operating as a regional public health authority are eligible to receive state or federal funds as pass-through grants administered by the state and local agencies, unless otherwise provided by federal law.

    Effective July 1, 2015.