Section 37:1306 - Legislative findingsThe Legislature of Louisiana finds as follows:
(1) Rural hospitals are an essential part of the healthcare delivery system for the state of Louisiana.(2) For many Louisiana residents, especially those without transportation, rural hospitals provide the only healthcare services readily available.(3) Among the essential services that rural hospitals make available to rural residents is around-the-clock emergency room care.(4) The development of healthcare facilities that provide services that duplicate those already available in the primary service areas of rural hospitals endangers their continued existence by reducing revenue and can lead to the closure or reduction of access to services in their twenty-four hour emergency rooms.(5) Patients in a rural hospital's primary service area with Medicare or private health insurance could be referred to a healthcare facility in which the physician has an ownership interest, thereby depriving the rural hospital of essential revenues, thereby endangering their continued existence.(6) The purpose of this legislation is to encourage innovative collaboration between and among rural hospitals and physicians in delivery of healthcare services in rural areas.