This amendment reduces $500,000 each year from the general fund to capture the full amount of the funding provided in the 2015 Session to offset the loss of federal funding for Piedmont Geriatric Hospital and Catawba Hospital. The plan in the last session was to convert the certification of these two hospitals to nursing facilities due to a federal Health and Human Services Inspector General's report on the certification issue. A total of $9.1 million from the general fund was provided last year that was included in the base budget for each year. The introduced budget removes all but $500,000 of the funding since the conversion to nursing facilities has been determined to no longer be possible. This amendment recaptures all of the funding originally provided.