Health (Amendment) Act 2013
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Insertion of sections 53B and 53C in Act of 1970. |
12.— The Act of 1970 is amended by the insertion, after section 53A, of the following sections: | |
“Charges for long-term residential care services. | ||
53B.— (1) Charges shall be made for long-term residential care services in accordance with the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009 . | ||
(2) A reference in subsection (1) to long-term residential care services shall be construed as a reference to such services provided to a person who first began to receive those services on or after 27 October 2009. | ||
(3) A person who is required by or under section 67C to make payment of a residential support services maintenance and accommodation contribution shall not be required to pay charges under this section. | ||
(4) In any enactment— | ||
(a) a reference to section 53(1A) shall be construed as a reference to subsection (1), | ||
(b) a reference to section 53(1B) shall be construed as a reference to subsection (2), | ||
(c) a reference to section 53(1C) shall be construed as a reference to subsection (3), | ||
(d) a reference to section 53 other than subsections (1A), (1B) or (1C) shall be construed as a reference to— | ||
(i) section 53C, | ||
(ii) section 67C, or | ||
(iii) to both sections 53C and 67C, | ||
as the context requires, | ||
(e) a reference to a charge under section 53 (other than subsections (1A), (1B) or (1C)) shall be construed as a reference to— | ||
(i) a charge under section 53C, | ||
(ii) a contribution under section 67C, or | ||
(iii) to both a charge under section 53C and a contribution under section 67C, | ||
as the context requires. | ||
Charges for acute in-patient services. | ||
53C.— (1) Charges shall be made for acute in-patient services provided by or on behalf of the Health Service Executive to a person who is a member of a class of persons specified in regulations made under subsection (3) for the purpose of this section. | ||
(2) The daily rate of charge shall be €80 unless a different amount is prescribed in regulations made under subsection (4), in which case the daily rate of charge shall be that different amount. | ||
(3) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, make regulations for the purpose of this section, which may— | ||
(a) provide for the imposition of charges for acute in-patient services on persons to whom such services are provided where he or she is a member of a class of persons specified in such regulations, | ||
(b) specify the maximum number of days in respect of which such charges may be imposed by reference to a period of time specified in the regulations. | ||
(4) (a) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may by regulations prescribe a different amount than the amount specified in subsection (2). | ||
(b) In prescribing an amount pursuant to paragraph (a) the Minister shall ensure that the amount prescribed does not exceed the amount which is 25 per cent of the average daily cost of providing acute in-patient services to a patient. | ||
(5) Where in regulations made pursuant to subsection (3)(b) the Minister specifies the maximum number of days in respect of which charges are to be imposed, that maximum period shall not be fewer than 7 days and not be greater than 15 days. | ||
(6) In this section ‘average daily cost of providing acute in-patient services to a patient’ means the amount most recently certified by the Director General of the Health Service Executive to the Minister as being the average daily cost of providing acute in-patient services to a patient determined by establishing the total cost of acute in-patient services over a period of 12 months provided by— | ||
(a) the Health Service Executive under sections 52 and 55, and | ||
(b) other persons on behalf of the Health Service Executive pursuant to section 38 of the Health Act 2004 , | ||
and dividing that amount by the total number of bed days provided in respect of those services. | ||
(7) For the purposes of this section— | ||
(a) a person shall not be considered as receiving acute in-patient services on a particular day unless that person— | ||
(i) was receiving acute in-patient services in the hospital concerned at midnight on the day concerned, or | ||
(ii) was admitted to and discharged from the hospital concerned on the same day and during the period he or she was an in-patient he or she received acute in-patient services, | ||
(b) a person shall be deemed to have commenced receiving acute in-patient services in the hospital concerned upon a decision being made by a registered medical practitioner having the authority to make such a decision in the hospital concerned that the person should be admitted to the hospital for that purpose, | ||
(c) a person shall be deemed to have ceased receiving acute in-patient services— | ||
(i) upon a registered medical practitioner having the authority to make such a decision in the hospital concerned determining that the person concerned no longer requires acute in-patient services, or | ||
(ii) where the person is otherwise discharged as a patient from the hospital. | ||
(8) In determining whether or not a person is required to pay a charge under this section by reference to the number of days in respect of which charges have been imposed on that person in the period (the ‘relevant period’) specified in the regulations made pursuant to subsection (3)(b), account shall be taken of any day in respect of which charges were imposed on that person pursuant to section 53 (other than in respect of services referred to in section 53(6)) within the relevant period. | ||
(9) A person shall not be required to pay a charge under this section where the person is— | ||
(a) a person with full eligibility, | ||
(b) a woman receiving services in respect of motherhood, | ||
(c) a child who is not more than six weeks of age, | ||
(d) a child receiving services in respect of a defect identified at a health examination held pursuant to the service provided under section 66, | ||
(e) a person receiving services for the diagnosis or treatment of infectious diseases prescribed under Part IV of the Health Act 1947 , | ||
(f) a person receiving services in respect of which service the person is deemed pursuant to section 45(7) to be a person with full eligibility, | ||
(g) a person who pursuant to section 2 of the Health (Amendment) Act 1996 , in the opinion of the Health Service Executive, has contracted Hepatitis C directly or indirectly from the use of Human Immunoglobulin Anti-D or the receipt within the State of another blood product or a blood transfusion.”. |