1. A. It shall be the responsibility of the Department of Corrections to provide such medical and surgical inpatient and outpatient care as may be required by inmates of the Department of Corrections. The Department may refer to the Oklahoma University Medical Center, and the Oklahoma University Medical Center shall accept, those inmates who need services, as determined by the Department of Corrections to be beyond the professional capabilities of the Department of Corrections.
2. B. The Department of Corrections may also contract with providers of general inpatient hospital services. Any such provider shall be a hospital as defined in Section 1-701 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
3. C. When the Department of Corrections determines the medical necessity for urgent hospitalization of an inmate, an inpatient hospital in close proximity to the correctional facility shall be used for emergency care and stabilization. The Department of Corrections is authorized to develop a network of inpatient hospitals that are capable of providing necessary care. Those hospitals that are in the network established by the Department of Corrections in conjunction with the Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board shall be reimbursed according to the fee schedule established for that network; provided however, reimbursement shall be no less than the fee structure in effect on January 1, 2007, or the current fee schedule, whichever is greater. Hospitals that are out-of-network shall be reimbursed according to the Oklahoma Medicaid fee schedule; provided however, reimbursement shall be no less than the fee structure in effect on January 1, 2007, or the current fee schedule, whichever is greater.
4. D. The Department of Corrections shall be responsible for transporting to, from, and between hospitals and for providing such physical security of inmate consumers as may be required beyond that security normal to hospital operation. The Department of Corrections shall immediately remove from the hospital those inmate consumers when discharged by the hospital.
5. E. The hospital services provided by the Oklahoma University Medical Center shall be without cost to the Department of Corrections.

Added by Laws 2002, SB 1487, c. 3, § 21, emerg. eff. February 15, 2002; Amended by Laws 2002, SB 932, c. 384, § 2, emerg. eff. June 4, 2002 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2003, HB 1266, c. 46, § 27, emerg. eff. April 8, 2003 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2005, HB 1845, c. 150, § 23, emerg. eff. May 9, 2005 (superseded document available); Amended by Laws 2007, SB 523, c. 337, § 1, emerg. eff. June 4, 2007 (superseded document available); Renumbered from 43A O.S. § 3-701.a by Laws 2007, SB 523, c. 337, § 2, emerg. eff. June 4, 2007.