Section 1412-D - Powers and duties.(a) General rule.--The board shall exercise all powers necessary and appropriate to carry out its duties under this article, including the following: (1) Adopt bylaws necessary to carry out the provisions of this article. The bylaws shall include a provision addressing conflicts of interest as well as a provision that restricts board discussions and decisions to the administration of the global budget model as provided under subsection (b).(2) Make, execute and deliver contracts, grants and other instruments necessary or convenient to exercise the powers and duties of the board.(3) Apply for, solicit, receive, establish priorities for, allocate, disburse, contract or grant for, administer and expend money in the fund and other money made available to the authority from any other source consistent with the purposes of this article. The authority shall be exempt from the provisions of 62 Pa.C.S. Pts. I (relating to commonwealth procurement code) and II (relating to general procurement provisions).(4) Apply for, accept and administer grants and loans to carry out the purposes of the authority.(5) Accept money from both public and private sources, consistent with federal and state law.(6) Take, hold, administer, assign, lend, encumber, mortgage, invest or otherwise dispose of, at public or private sale, on behalf of the authority and for any of the authority's purposes, real property, personal property and money or any interest therein, including any mortgage or loan interest owned by the authority or under its control or in its possession and the income therefrom either absolutely or in trust. The following apply:(i) The board may acquire property or money for this purpose by purchase or lease and by the acceptance of gifts, grants, bequests, devises or loans, but no obligation of the authority shall be a debt of the Commonwealth, and the authority shall have no power to pledge the credit or taxing power of the Commonwealth nor to make its debts payable out of any money except those of the corporation. This subparagraph is not intended to mean that the board may acquire rural hospitals or participant rural hospitals.(ii) All accrued and future earnings from money invested by the board and other accrued and future nonappropriated funds, including, but not limited to, funds obtained from the Federal government and contributions, shall be available to the authority and shall be deposited in the State Treasury and may be utilized at the discretion of the board for carrying out any of the corporate purposes of the authority. Any placement of the funds by the State Treasurer in depositories or investments shall be consistent with guidelines approved by the board. For the purpose of administration, the authority shall be subject to sections 610, 613 and 614 of the act of April 9, 1929 ( P.L. 177, No.175), known as the Administrative Code of 1929.(7) Seek waivers from State agency requirements as necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.(8) Coordinate with the appropriate State agency to seek waivers from Federal requirements as necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.(9) Establish advisory groups with a diverse membership representing interested and affected groups and individuals as the board finds necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.(10) Collaborate with all applicable State agencies for purposes of implementing this article.(11) Perform all other activities necessary to further the purposes of this article.(b)Global budget model.--The board is responsible for administering the global budget model and shall: (1) Evaluate and select rural hospitals for participation in the global budget model as a participant rural health hospital on the basis of diversity, vision and commitment to health care delivery transformation.(2) Provide technical assistance, training and education to rural hospitals and participant rural hospitals.(3) Collect and maintain data from rural hospitals and participant rural hospitals, participating payers and others as necessary to carry out the responsibilities of this article.(4) Perform data analysis and quality assurance.(5) Calculate, approve and administer global budgets. The global budgets may include payments for eligible hospital services provided under a participant rural hospital's employee health plan.(6) Consistent with Federal and State law, review and approve rural hospital transformation plans, advise and approve changes to operational and payment mechanisms and approve exceptions to agreed-upon payment rules through an approved procedure provided in the board's bylaws.(7) Assist rural hospitals and participant rural hospitals in working with community-based organizations to determine the targeted population health improvement goals.(8) Evaluate the progress of the implementation of each participant rural hospital's global budget toward population health improvement goals and the cost of achieving health care goals.(9) Monitor global budgets and quality metrics for participant rural hospitals.(10) Provide an annual assessment of each participant rural hospital's compliance with its rural hospital transformation plan and global budget targets.(11) Require a participant rural hospital to submit a corrective action plan for failure to submit a rural hospital transformation plan, comply with its rural hospital transformation plan or meet its global budget targets.(12) Terminate a participant rural hospital from the global budget model in accordance with the participant rural hospital's participation agreement.(13) Contract with an independent evaluation group to provide the board and executive director with an evaluation of the global budget model's progress in the areas of population health, quality of care and cost targets.(14) Review and update the definition of "eligible hospital services" by transmitting a notice to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, subject to obtaining all necessary Federal approvals. The board shall use data collected under paragraph (3) in its review.(c) Audit.-- (1) The accounts and books of the authority shall be examined and audited annually by an independent certified public accounting firm. The audit shall be public information.(2) The authority shall, by December 31 of each year, file a copy of the audit of the preceding Commonwealth fiscal year required under paragraph (1) with the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and provide a copy to the Department of Health.(d) Reports.--The authority shall: (1) Electronically submit an annual report on the performance and compliance of each participant rural hospital to the Department of Health and to other appropriate parties, including associations, foundations, academic institutions and community-based organizations, as determined by the board.(2) Electronically submit an annual report to the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives for distribution to the Health and Human Services Committee of the Senate and the Health Committee of the House of Representatives on the activities of the authority for the year.(3) Comply with applicable Federal reporting requirements.(e)Publication.--The authority shall annually transmit a financial statement and the authority's audit as a notice to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the next available issue of the Pennsylvania Bulletin.Added by P.L. TBD 2023 No. 15, § 8, eff. 10/23/2023.