By: Moncrief S.B. No. 569
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the provision of hospice services to inmates and
1-2 defendants confined in facilities operated by the Texas Department
1-3 of Criminal Justice.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 493, Government Code, is amended by
1-6 adding Section 493.014 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 493.014. CARE OF TERMINALLY ILL INMATES. (a) The
1-8 department may provide direct hospice services for terminally ill
1-9 inmates and defendants confined in facilities operated by the
1-10 department or may contract with a licensed hospice for the
1-11 provision of those services.
1-12 (b) In this section, "hospice" and "hospice services" have
1-13 the meanings assigned to those terms by Section 142.001, Health and
1-14 Safety Code.
1-15 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 142.003, Health and
1-16 Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-17 (a) The following persons need not be licensed under this
1-18 chapter:
1-19 (1) a physician, dentist, registered nurse, or
1-20 physical therapist licensed under the laws of this state who
1-21 provides home health services to a client only as a part of and
1-22 incidental to that person's private office practice;
1-23 (2) a registered nurse, licensed vocational nurse,
1-24 physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist,
2-1 medical social worker, or any other health care professional as
2-2 determined by the department who provides home health services as a
2-3 sole practitioner;
2-4 (3) a registry that operates solely as a clearinghouse
2-5 to put consumers in contact with persons who provide home health,
2-6 hospice, or personal assistance services and that does not maintain
2-7 official client records, direct client services, or compensate the
2-8 person who is providing the service;
2-9 (4) an individual whose permanent residence is in the
2-10 client's residence;
2-11 (5) an employee of a person licensed under this
2-12 chapter who provides home health, hospice, or personal assistance
2-13 services only as an employee of the license holder and who receives
2-14 no benefit for providing the services, other than wages from the
2-15 license holder;
2-16 (6) a home, nursing home, convalescent home, personal
2-17 care facility, special care facility, or other institution for
2-18 individuals who are elderly or who have disabilities that provides
2-19 home health or personal assistance services only to residents of
2-20 the home or institution;
2-21 (7) a person who provides one health service through a
2-22 contract with a person licensed under this chapter;
2-23 (8) a durable medical equipment supply company;
2-24 (9) a pharmacy or wholesale medical supply company
2-25 that does not furnish services, other than supplies, to a person at
2-26 the person's house;
2-27 (10) a hospital or other licensed health care facility
3-1 that provides home health or personal assistance services only to
3-2 inpatient residents of the hospital or facility;
3-3 (11) a person providing home health or personal
3-4 assistance services to an injured employee under the Texas Workers'
3-5 Compensation Act (Article 8308-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil
3-6 Statutes);
3-7 (12) a visiting nurse service that:
3-8 (A) is conducted by and for the adherents of a
3-9 well-recognized church or religious denomination; and
3-10 (B) provides nursing services by a person exempt
3-11 from licensing by Article 4528, Revised Statutes, because the
3-12 person furnishes nursing care in which treatment is only by prayer
3-13 or spiritual means;
3-14 (13) an individual hired and paid directly by the
3-15 client or the client's family or legal guardian to provide home
3-16 health or personal assistance services;
3-17 (14) a business, school, camp, or other organization
3-18 that provides home health or personal assistance services,
3-19 incidental to the organization's primary purpose, to individuals
3-20 employed by or participating in programs offered by the business,
3-21 school, or camp that enable the individual to participate fully in
3-22 the business's, school's, or camp's programs;
3-23 (15) a person or organization providing
3-24 sitter-companion services or chore or household services that do
3-25 not involve personal care, health, or health-related services;
3-26 (16) a licensed health care facility that provides
3-27 hospice services under a contract with a hospice;
4-1 (17) a person delivering residential acquired immune
4-2 deficiency syndrome hospice care who is licensed and designated as
4-3 a residential AIDS hospice under Chapter 248; or
4-4 (18) the Texas Department of Criminal Justice <until
4-5 August 31, 1995, a state agency, mental retardation authority, or
4-6 mental health authority providing the direct delivery of home
4-7 health, hospice, or personal assistance services>.
4-8 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
4-9 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.