MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR

PURCHASE OF ULTRASOUND EQUIPMENT

House Bill 5637

Sponsor:  Rep. Jacob Hoogendyk

Committee:  Health Policy

Complete to 5-28-04

A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 5637 AS INTRODUCED 3-11-04

The bill would add a new section to the Public Health Code to require the Department of Community Health to establish and administer a grant program to provide grants for the purchase of ultrasound equipment. 

The Ultrasound Equipment Fund.  The fund would be created in the state treasury.  The state treasurer would be responsible for receiving money or other assets into the fund (i.e., appropriations, federal money, gifts, donations, bequests, etc.), directing the investment of the fund, and crediting the interest and earning from the fund investments to the fund.  Money would remain in the fund at the close of a fiscal year and not lapse to the general fund. 

Purpose of the fund.  The fund would be used by the DCH to make matching grants to qualified entities for the purchase of ultrasound equipment.  A cash match of at least 50 percent of the grant amount, or other repayment guarantee with a dedicated funding source, would be required before a grant could be awarded.  An “entity” would mean a local agency, organization, or corporation or a subdivision, contractee, subcontractee, or grant recipient of a local agency, organization, or corporation.  A “qualified entity” would be defined as an entity that had been reviewed by the department and determined to satisfy all of the conditions required under the bill and that was technically and logistically capable of providing the quality and quantity of services required within an appropriate cost range.

Grant eligibility.  The following conditions would have to be met:

·                    An application on a department-prescribed form or format would have to be submitted, along with any information required by the department necessary to make a determination regarding grant approval.

·                    The entity would have to be a nonprofit entity providing family planning or reproductive health services to low-income women at no cost. 

·                    The entity did not have at least one ultrasound monitor fully accessible to each pregnant woman upon whom the ultrasound equipment was used.

·                    The entity would have to agree to the following conditions:  to inform each client that she had the right to view the ultrasound image; to inform the client that if the machine had the capability to make copies of the ultrasound image, she had the right to record the image for her own records if she provided the videocassette, film, or other medium on which images could be recorded or stored; to certify in writing that the client had been offered the opportunity to view the ultrasound image, obtain in writing the client’s acceptance or rejection of the offer to view the image, and retain a copy of each document in the client’s medical file; and to refrain from using the ultrasound equipment funded by this program to assist in the performance of an elective abortion.

Responsibility of the DCH.  Besides prescribing the form or format for grant applications, the department could promulgate rules under the Administrative Procedures Act to implement the grant program.  Final approval of grants would have to be made by the director of the department.  Further, the department would have to annually prepare a report summarizing the grants made under the bill, contractual commitments made and achieved, along with a preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness of the bill’s provisions.  A copy would have to be provided to the chairs of the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees for the Department of Community Health.

MCL 333.9141

                       

                                                                                           Legislative Analyst:   Susan Stutzky                       

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.