Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 94 amends the Health and Safety Code to establish minimum standards for the delivery of acceptable quality of care by home and community support services agencies. It directs the Texas Department of Health to regulate these agencies, to adopt rules relating to quality of care and quality of life, to strictly monitor certain factors, to impose prompt remedies for violations, to enable client independence and self-determination, and to provide the public with helpful information relating to service agencies.

            The act authorizes the department to adopt rules regarding the qualifications of a service agency's controlling person, requires that agencies include identification and documentation relating to any controlling person as part of the license application, and includes other provisions concerning licenses and the denial of licenses. The department is required to provide specialized training to its representatives who survey home and community support agencies and to maintain records relating to complaints. The act includes provisions relating to reports of abuse and to the confidentiality and admissibility in civil actions of certain reports concerning home and community support services. It also has provisions relating to notification of agencies about a determination of abuse and prohibiting physician referrals in certain circumstances. The act requires home and community support services agencies that generate medical waste to comply with guidelines regarding its disposal and to provide instructions to clients regarding proper disposal of certain sharp implements.