(a) Quality, comprehensive health care should be available to every resident of, and visitor to, the Virgin Islands.
(b) Efficient, affordable health care delivery must be available and accessible throughout the Virgin Islands.
(c) Formulation and coordination of major health care hospital policy must be made on a Territorial-wide basis with the day-to-day operating decisions delegated to district-level managers.
(d) The creation of separate hospital facilities boards in 1986 did not permit consistent, continuous health care delivery and failed to provide for Territory-wide health care hospital policy decisions.
(e) Effective health care delivery requires a new management structure that preserves decentralized control over health facilities, yet incorporates the benefits of territory-wide planning and coordination.
(f) More than sixty-five percent of operating costs for all health care facilities are paid for from general revenues of the Government of the Virgin Islands.
(g) As long as a significant portion of the health facilities budget is appropriated from public revenues, the Government must be represented in any health care management structure.
(h) It is the goal of the health care facilities and the Government of the Virgin Islands that the facilities shall increase collection of patient care revenues and, to the extent that health insurance becomes widely available to their patients, that the facilities shall ultimately become financially self-sufficient through the collection of patient care revenues from third party payers.
(i) Payments from the general revenues of the Government of the Virgin Islands are intended to compensate the facilities for otherwise uncompensated care, in order to ensure the availability of quality, comprehensive health care to indigent as well as other residents of the Virgin Islands, until such time as the health care facilities become self-sufficient. “Uncompensated care” means the sum of unpaid or unreimbursed costs for health care services provided by the hospitals or health facilities after due diligence to collect. The term does not include contractual adjustments in reimbursement for services based upon an agreement with a payer, such as Medicaid and Medicare.
(j) Incentives must be included in the system to encourage health care managers to attain greater self-sufficiency through collection of health care costs from those using the services who are capable of paying.
(k) It is the purpose of this act to create a Hospitals and Health Facilities Corporation which shall manage health care delivery in partnership with the Government of the Virgin Islands.
(l) This corporation is expressly limited to the powers granted by this act, which powers may be expanded by amendments to this act as the corporation meets established performance standards and attains greater financial self-sufficiency.
(m) All rights and privileges of hospital and health facilities employees under the Personnel Merit System and collective bargaining agreements which existed prior to enactment of this act are preserved and continued as if, without interruption, under the provisions of this act.
(n) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, each Board, in order to promote its orderly and efficient administration and operation, is hereby authorized to establish and maintain separate accounts for the prompt payment of its respective expenses.