Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1677 amends the Health and Safety Code to authorize the Texas Board of Health to establish rules to require nursing homes to offer immunizations against certain infectious, potentially deadly, and preventable diseases to elderly residents or to staff who are in contact with elderly residents. The act requires that nursing homes offer pneumococcal vaccines to elderly residents and influenza vaccines to elderly residents and staff. In developing related rules, the board must coordinate with the Texas Department of Human Services to ensure that the agency's guidelines are not inconsistent with federal and state laws and regulations related to nursing home infection control programs and to ensure that new nursing facility documentation requirements developed by the agencies to comply with the act are developed with nursing home industry input and are promptly disseminated to nursing homes upon adoption by the agencies.