All fees received under this article must be deposited in the Maine Environmental Protection Fund consistent with section 353- C.

PART HH

Sec. HH-1. 22 MRSA §1812-I is enacted to read:

§1812-I.__Critical access hospital defined

For purposes of this chapter, "critical access hospital" has the same meaning as set out in section 7932, subsection 10.

Sec. HH-2. 22 MRSA §7932, sub-§10, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 384, §13, is amended to read:

10. Critical access hospital. "Critical access hospital" means a hospital that must first be designated and approved by the State, as long as the State also has established an approved rural hospital flexibility program, and that meets the conditions in effect on March 1, 2004 for critical access hospital status under the federal Medicare program. In addition, it must also:

A. Be a rural public or nonprofit hospital located in a state that has established a rural hospital flexibility program;

B. Have a Medicare participation agreement as a hospital and be in compliance with the Medicare hospital conditions of participation when applying to become a critical access hospital;

C. Be certified by the State prior to January 1, 2006 as being a necessary provider of health care services to residents in the area or be located more than a 35-mile drive from any other hospital or critical access hospital. In mountainous terrain or in areas with only secondary roads, the mileage criterion is 15 miles;

D. Provide not more than 15 25 beds for acute hospital- level inpatient care:

(1) Except that a swing-bed facility is allowed to have up to 25 inpatient beds that can be used interchangeably for acute or skilled nursing facility