(a) The powers, duties and responsibilities of the commission shall include the following:
(1) Make a continuing investigation, study and review of the practices, policies and procedures of the health care and social services agencies in this state;
(2) Make a continuing investigation, study and review of all matters related to health and social policy in the state;
(3) Review program development by the various agencies of the Department of Health and Human Resources if those programs impact the physical, emotional or social well-being of the citizens of West Virginia;
(4) Conduct studies on:
(A) The amount of funds expended by hospitals and other health care providers of this state for services to persons who are unable to pay for those services and for which they receive no other form of reimbursement;
(B) The extent to which persons in this state forego needed medical services because of insufficient income and assets to pay for those services;
(C) The extent to which the state is maximizing available federal programs and moneys in providing health care services to the citizens of this state;
(D) The operation of the programs and funds created by article twenty-nine-c of this chapter; and
(E) The roles of the public, private and private nonprofit sectors in providing health care services to the citizens of this state;
(5) Review and study the state Medicaid program in order to determine if the state Medicaid agency, as the payor of last resort, is expending maximum effort to identify alternate private insurance resources for Medicaid beneficiaries;
(6) Review and study the feasibility and financial impact upon the state of assuring increased access to Medicaid beneficiaries to primary health care in the nonhospital setting by requiring enrollment in a primary care clinic program, if available;
(7) Review and study the feasibility and financial impact upon the state of the establishment of different and lesser schedules of payment for primary health services delivered by a hospital emergency room as compared to the schedule of payments for emergency room services of a true medical emergency nature;
(8) Conduct a study on the effects of rural health networks, including effects on the quality, cost and availability of care; and
(9) Meet jointly with the advisory committee created in article thirty-five of this chapter to determine methods for coordinating the collection and analysis of health care information within the state, including the development of health information systems that will allow for the electronic transmittal of data and access by the various agencies of government.
(b) The commission shall make annual reports to the Legislature regarding the results of all investigations, studies and reviews pursuant to the provisions of section seven of this article.