Health care for the medically indigent - 35 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 449.8

As a condition of licensure, each provider must offer and provide medically necessary, lifesaving and emergency health care services to every person in Pennsylvania, regardless of financial status or ability to pay.  The health care cost containment council may undertake studies and utilize its current database to study and analyze the medically indigent population, and the degree of access to and the result of any lack of access by the medically indigent to appropriate care. The study must include the following:

• Number and characteristics of the medically indigent population, including the following factors:
  • Health status;
  • Patterns of health care utilization;
  • Type of health care needed and utilized;
  • Distribution of this population on a geographic basis by age, sex and racial or language characteristics; and
  • Changes in characteristics, including the needs and problems of indigent persons who are members of racial or linguistic minorities
• The degree of and any change in access of this population to sources of health care;
• The major types of care rendered to the indigent and the need for additional care;
• The likely impact of changes in the health delivery system on the access to, availability of, and financing of needed care for the indigent; and
• Reduction in the dependence of indigent persons on hospital services through improvements in preventative health measures.