GA HB1547

Repeals Georgia's certificate of need (CON) requirements effective January 1, 2025, transferring indigent and charity care obligations from CON conditions to facility licensure requirements, with institutions required to provide uncompensated indigent or charity care equal to at least 5% of adjusted gross revenues or face tiered monetary penalties ranging from 1% to 10% of revenues deposited into the Indigent Care Trust Fund

Expands the CON exemption for "single-specialty" ambulatory surgical centers to all "physician owned" ambulatory surgical centers (removing the single-specialty restriction) effective January 1, 2023, and authorizes urban county hospitals to form venture capital partnerships with rural critical access or safety net hospitals to build or operate ambulatory surgical centers in rural counties

Increases transparency and oversight of hospital authorities by subjecting their affiliates and subsidiaries to open records laws, requiring reports to be filed with the Office of Health Strategy and Coordination, capping cash reserves at 12 months' operating costs, and authorizing withholding of state funds from authorities that fail to meet reporting, budgeting, auditing, or registration requirements

Establishes a state-funded mental health assistance program through the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities for uninsured indigent persons not eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, or PeachCare for Kids, contingent on a specific appropriation of funds by the General Assembly

Requires Medicaid reimbursement at 100% of cost for patients treated at hospitals in rural counties (population under 50,000) beginning January 1, 2023, and bars hospitals or hospital authorities with ownership interests in captive insurance companies domiciled outside the United States from receiving Indigent Care Trust Fund distributions