By: Naishtat H.B. No. 985
73R3547 CBH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the operation of the Texas Department of Mental Health
1-3 and Mental Retardation and to the provision of services to patients
1-4 and clients of the department or of community centers.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 533, Health and Safety
1-7 Code, is amended by adding Section 533.0075 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 533.0075. EXCHANGE OF EMPLOYMENT RECORDS. The
1-9 department shall make available to a community center, on request,
1-10 the employment records of a department employee or former employee
1-11 who applies for employment at the community center.
1-12 SECTION 2. Sections 533.014(b)-(d), Health and Safety Code,
1-13 are amended to read as follows:
1-14 (b) The board's first consideration in developing rules
1-15 under this section must be to satisfy individual patient treatment
1-16 needs in the most appropriate setting. The board shall also
1-17 consider reducing patient inconvenience resulting from admissions
1-18 and transfers between providers. <The rules must be based on the
1-19 advice and recommendations of the single portal review committee.>
1-20 (c) <The board may designate a local mental health authority
1-21 as a single portal authority for a service area if:>
1-22 <(1) the board determines that the authority operates
1-23 or contracts for the licensed inpatient mental health facilities
1-24 the board determines are necessary;>
2-1 <(2) the board determines that all core services
2-2 required by Section 534.053 are available in the service area; and>
2-3 <(3) the single portal review committee:>
2-4 <(A) determines that the core services in the
2-5 service area are of sufficient quality and quantity as measured by
2-6 criteria established by the committee;>
2-7 <(B) determines that the local mental health
2-8 authority meets the criteria set by the single portal review
2-9 committee, including receiving the endorsement of the application
2-10 from the county judges and the appropriate police chiefs who have
2-11 jurisdiction in the applicant's service area and from the
2-12 superintendent of the department mental health facility serving the
2-13 area; and>
2-14 <(C) approves the authority's application.>
2-15 <(d)> If the board designates a local mental health
2-16 authority as a single portal authority, the department shall notify
2-17 each judge who has probate jurisdiction in the service area and any
2-18 other person the single portal authority considers necessary of the
2-19 designation and the new procedures required in the area.
2-20 SECTION 3. Section 533.032, Health and Safety Code, is
2-21 amended to read as follows:
2-22 Sec. 533.032. Long-Range Plan. <(a)> The department shall
2-23 have a long-range plan covering at least six years that includes at
2-24 least the provisions required by Section 10, Article 4413(502),
2-25 Revised Statutes, and Article 6252-31, Revised Statutes, as added
2-26 by Chapter 384, Acts of the 72nd Legislature, Regular Session, 1991
2-27 <following elements:>
3-1 <(1) a statement of the department's mission, goals,
3-2 and objectives;>
3-3 <(2) quantifiable indicators of effort and success;>
3-4 <(3) an identification of priority populations and the
3-5 minimum services necessary for those populations;>
3-6 <(4) a description of the appropriate use of
3-7 facilities, including the role of state hospitals and schools,
3-8 considering their size, function, and specialization and the
3-9 criteria for adding needed beds and phasing out uneconomical and
3-10 unneeded beds;>
3-11 <(5) a description of the service delivery system
3-12 while the plan is being implemented, including estimates of the
3-13 number of persons to be served by department facilities and
3-14 community-based services and the costs of the services; and>
3-15 <(6) a comprehensive assessment of needs and a
3-16 statewide inventory of resources.>
3-17 <(b) The department shall revise the plan by January 1 of
3-18 each even-numbered year.>
3-19 <(c) The department shall identify and project the costs
3-20 related to implementing the plan.>
3-21 <(d) As part of the department's budget preparation process,
3-22 the department shall biennially assess its achievement of the goals
3-23 identified in the plan. The department should make each biennial
3-24 budget request according to the results of the assessment, with
3-25 requests for new program funding and continued funding made
3-26 according to demonstrated need.>
3-27 <(e) The department should develop and maintain a data base
4-1 appropriate to the planning effort>.
4-2 SECTION 4. Section 533.042, Health and Safety Code, is
4-3 amended to read as follows:
4-4 Sec. 533.042. <Annual> Evaluation of Elderly Residents.
4-5 (a) The department shall evaluate each elderly resident at least
4-6 annually to determine if the resident can be appropriately served
4-7 in a less restrictive setting.
4-8 (b) The department shall consider the proximity to the
4-9 resident of family, friends, and advocates concerned with the
4-10 resident's well-being in determining whether the resident should be
4-11 moved from a department facility or to a different department
4-12 facility. The department shall recognize that a nursing home may
4-13 not be able to meet the special needs of an elderly resident.
4-14 (c) In evaluating an elderly resident under this section and
4-15 to ensure appropriate placement, the department shall identify the
4-16 special needs of the resident, the types of services that will best
4-17 meet those needs, and the type of facility that will best provide
4-18 those services.
4-19 (d) The treating physician shall conduct the evaluation of
4-20 an elderly resident of a department mental health facility. The
4-21 appropriate interdisciplinary team shall conduct the evaluation of
4-22 an elderly resident of a department mental retardation facility.
4-23 (e) The department shall attempt to place an elderly
4-24 resident in a less restrictive setting if the department determines
4-25 that the resident can be appropriately served in that setting. The
4-26 department shall coordinate the attempt with the local mental
4-27 health and mental retardation authority.
5-1 (f) A local mental health or mental retardation authority
5-2 shall provide continuing care for an elderly resident placed in the
5-3 authority's service area under this section.
5-4 (g) The local mental health or mental retardation authority
5-5 is entitled to have access to each resident who requests or
5-6 receives continuing care services and to that resident's records.
5-7 SECTION 5. Section 574.081, Health and Safety Code, is
5-8 amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f) to
5-9 read as follows:
5-10 (e) The facility administrator or the administrator's
5-11 designee is entitled to have access to each discharged patient who
5-12 receives or requests continuing care services and to that patient's
5-13 records.
5-14 (f) A patient who is to be discharged may refuse the
5-15 continuing care services.
5-16 SECTION 6. Section 591.011, Health and Safety Code, is
5-17 amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f) to
5-18 read as follows:
5-19 (e) The department is entitled to have access to each
5-20 resident who is placed with a residential service provider and to
5-21 that resident's records.
5-22 (f) The department's responsibilities under this subtitle
5-23 are in addition to all other responsibilities and duties of the
5-24 department under other law.
5-25 SECTION 7. Section 533.013, Health and Safety Code, is
5-26 repealed.
5-27 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
6-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-6 passage, and it is so enacted.