House Bill 1010 Summary

• Renames the "Rural Health Availability Act" to the "Mississippi Hospitals Health Availability Act" and expands its application from rural hospitals only to all hospitals in the state.

• Authorizes all hospitals or any combination thereof to negotiate and enter into cooperative agreements subject to receiving a certificate of public advantage from the State Department of Health, which grants state action immunity from federal and state antitrust laws.

• Requires the Department of Health to approve cooperative agreements if benefits outweigh disadvantages from reduced competition, considering factors such as improved care quality, rural health preservation, cost efficiency, resource utilization, population health improvement, and access for underserved populations.

• Establishes that the State Board of Health shall adopt rules within 90 days for monitoring, supervision, and oversight of approved cooperative agreements, and allows the department to charge application and annual monitoring fees.

• Creates Section 41-9-308 to protect proprietary information submitted in applications as trade secrets exempt from public records disclosure, and maintains existing requirements that hospitals comply with certificate of need and community hospital laws.