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House Bill 915 |
House Author: Kolkhorst et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
Senate Sponsor: Nelson et al. |
House Bill 915 amends provisions of the Family Code relating to the administration and monitoring of health care provided to foster children. The bill requires a guardian ad litem and an attorney ad litem appointed for a child in certain suits affecting the parent-child relationship to review the medical care provided to the child, to seek to elicit the child's opinion of the medical care provided, and in some instances, to advise a child of at least 16 years of age regarding the child's right to request to consent to the child's own medical care. The bill requires a court at each permanency hearing and at each placement review hearing to take certain actions or make determinations regarding the child's medical care, the child's opinion of the medical care provided, and, if the child is receiving psychotropic medication, the provision of medical care relating to that medication.
House Bill 915 requires the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to ensure that the transition plan for a youth in foster care taking prescription medication includes provisions relating to managing the use of the medication and managing the child's long-term physical and mental health needs after leaving foster care. The bill establishes training requirements for a person authorized to consent to medical care provided to a foster child related to the administration of psychotropic medication. The bill establishes the conditions under which consent to the administration of a psychotropic medication is valid for a child in foster care and sets out requirements for notification of a foster child's parents regarding a psychotropic medication prescribed to the child. The bill requires the court-reviewed summary of the medical care provided to a child to include information regarding non-pharmacological interventions that have been provided to a foster child receiving psychotropic medication and office visits with the prescribing medical professional and requires the person authorized to consent to medical treatment for such a foster child to ensure that the child has been seen by the prescribing medical professional at least once every 90 days.
House Bill 915 amends the Government Code to require the system implemented to monitor the prescribing of psychotropic drugs for certain children to include children in the conservatorship of DFPS who are eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare and children under the supervision of DFPS through an agreement under the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.