NC H242

Expands the Medicaid Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP) to include freestanding psychiatric hospitals, which currently only covers acute care hospitals

Qualifying freestanding psychiatric hospitals must be licensed under state law, primarily provide inpatient psychiatric services under physician supervision, be Medicare-certified, submit cost report data to CMS, and not be state-owned/operated

Requires the NC Department of Health and Human Services to submit a federal preprint request to CMS for approval to include psychiatric hospitals in the program

Creates a new freestanding psychiatric hospital modernized assessment calculated quarterly as a percentage of each hospital's costs to fund the increased reimbursements

Effective the first day of the next assessment quarter after enactment, with the CMS approval provisions effective immediately upon becoming law