1-1 By: McDonald (Senate Sponsor - Zaffirini) H.B. No. 2698
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 1995;
1-3 May 9, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Health
1-4 and Human Services; May 17, 1995, reported favorably by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 17, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the provision of long-term care services.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Article 4413(502), Revised Statutes, is amended
1-11 by adding Section 10A to read as follows:
1-12 Sec. 10A. LONG-TERM CARE VISION. (a) In conjunction with
1-13 the appropriate state agencies, the commissioner shall develop a
1-14 plan for access to individualized long-term care services for
1-15 persons with functional limitations or medical needs and their
1-16 families that assists them in achieving and maintaining the
1-17 greatest possible independence, autonomy, and quality of life.
1-18 (b) The guiding principles and goals of the plan focusing on
1-19 the individual and the individual's family must:
1-20 (1) recognize that it is the policy of this state that
1-21 children should grow up in families and that persons with
1-22 disabilities and elderly persons should live in the setting of
1-23 their choice; and
1-24 (2) ensure that persons needing assistance and their
1-25 families will have:
1-26 (A) the maximum possible control over their
1-27 services;
1-28 (B) a choice of a broad, comprehensive array of
1-29 services designed to meet individual needs; and
1-30 (C) the easiest possible access to appropriate
1-31 care and support, regardless of the area of the state in which they
1-32 live.
1-33 (c) The guiding principles and goals of the long-term care
1-34 plan focusing on services and delivery of those services by the
1-35 state must:
1-36 (1) emphasize the development of home-based and
1-37 community-based services and housing alternatives to complement the
1-38 long-term care services already in existence;
1-39 (2) ensure that services will be of the highest
1-40 possible quality, with a minimum amount of regulation, structure,
1-41 and complexity at the service level;
1-42 (3) recognize that maximum independence and autonomy
1-43 represent major goals, and with those comes a certain degree of
1-44 risk;
1-45 (4) maximize resources to the greatest extent
1-46 possible, with the consumer receiving only the services that the
1-47 consumer prefers and that are indicated by a functional assessment
1-48 of need; and
1-49 (5) structure the service delivery system to support
1-50 these goals, ensuring that any necessary complexity of the system
1-51 is at the administrative level, not at the client level.
1-52 (d) The commission shall coordinate state services to ensure
1-53 that the roles and responsibilities of the agencies providing
1-54 long-term care are clarified and that duplication of services and
1-55 resources is minimized.
1-56 (e) In this section, "long-term care" means the provision of
1-57 health care, personal care, and assistance related to health and
1-58 social services over a sustained period to people of all ages and
1-59 their families, regardless of the setting in which the care is
1-60 given.
1-61 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-62 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-63 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-64 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-65 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-66 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-67 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-68 * * * * *