1-1  By:  Patterson                                         S.B. No. 982
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1993; March 15, 1993, read
    1-3  first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human Services;
    1-4  April 13, 1993, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
    1-5  Nays 0; April 13, 1993, sent to printer.)
    1-6                            COMMITTEE VOTE
    1-7                          Yea     Nay      PNV      Absent 
    1-8        Zaffirini          x                               
    1-9        Ellis              x                               
   1-10        Madla              x                               
   1-11        Moncrief           x                               
   1-12        Nelson             x                               
   1-13        Patterson          x                               
   1-14        Shelley            x                               
   1-15        Truan              x                               
   1-16        Wentworth          x                               
   1-17                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-18                                AN ACT
   1-19  relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Human Services
   1-20  to assess monetary penalties against a home or community care
   1-21  provider.
   1-22        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-23        SECTION 1.  Chapter 32, Human Resources Code, is amended by
   1-24  adding Section 32.0215 to read as follows:
   1-25        Sec. 32.0215.  HOME OR COMMUNITY CARE PROVIDERS:  CIVIL
   1-26  MONETARY PENALTIES.  (a)  The department may include in a contract
   1-27  for the delivery of medical assistance by a home or community care
   1-28  provider a provision for monetary penalties to be assessed for a
   1-29  contract violation or any violation of home or community care
   1-30  requirements, as required by 42 U.S.C. Section 1396t(j).
   1-31        (b)  The department shall develop rules governing the
   1-32  application of civil money penalties, including rules prescribing:
   1-33              (1)  criteria that describe when and how a civil money
   1-34  penalty may be assessed and the amount of the penalty;
   1-35              (2)  a system to ensure standard and consistent
   1-36  application of the penalties throughout the state; and
   1-37              (3)  an administrative appeals process to adjudicate
   1-38  claims in contested cases in accordance with the Administrative
   1-39  Procedure and Texas Register Act (Article 6252-13a, Vernon's Texas
   1-40  Civil Statutes).
   1-41        (c)  Rules adopted under this section must be designed to
   1-42  minimize the time between the identification of a violation and the
   1-43  final imposition of a penalty.  Rules adopted under this section
   1-44  may authorize the imposition of a penalty that assesses and
   1-45  collects a monetary penalty, with interest, for a minimum penalty
   1-46  period and on a subsequent per diem basis.
   1-47        (d)  A penalty must be appropriate to the violation.  The
   1-48  department may assess incrementally more severe penalties for
   1-49  repeated or uncorrected violations.
   1-50        (e)  The department shall review a penalized provider within
   1-51  10 working days after the provider notifies the department that the
   1-52  deficiency that caused the imposition of the penalty has been
   1-53  corrected.  If the department is unable to review the provider
   1-54  within that 10-working-day period, the penalty ceases on the
   1-55  earlier of the last day of the minimum penalty period or the date
   1-56  the provider gives notice to the department.
   1-57        (f)  Money collected as a result of the imposition of
   1-58  penalties may be used for the protection of the health or property
   1-59  of an individual whose personal property was lost due to a failure
   1-60  of a home or community care provider to meet the requirements for
   1-61  participation as a provider of home or community care.
   1-62        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
   1-63  applies only to a contract between the Texas Department of Health
   1-64  and a home or community care provider that is entered into on or
   1-65  after that date.
   1-66        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-67  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-68  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-2  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
    2-3                               * * * * *
    2-4                                                         Austin,
    2-5  Texas
    2-6                                                         April 13, 1993
    2-7  Hon. Bob Bullock
    2-8  President of the Senate
    2-9  Sir:
   2-10  We, your Committee on Health and Human Services to which was
   2-11  referred S.B. No. 982, have had the same under consideration, and I
   2-12  am instructed to report it back to the Senate with the
   2-13  recommendation that it do pass and be printed.
   2-14                                                         Zaffirini,
   2-15  Chair
   2-16                               * * * * *
   2-17                               WITNESSES
   2-18                                                  FOR   AGAINST  ON
   2-19  ___________________________________________________________________
   2-20  Name:  Ernest McKenney                                         x
   2-21  Representing:  Tx Dept. of Health
   2-22  City:  Austin
   2-23  -------------------------------------------------------------------