1-1 By: Moncrief S.B. No. 569
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 15, 1995; February 16, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 May 2, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
1-5 Nays 0; May 2, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the provision of hospice services to inmates and
1-9 defendants confined in facilities operated by the Texas Department
1-10 of Criminal Justice.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Chapter 493, Government Code, is amended by
1-13 adding Section 493.014 to read as follows:
1-14 Sec. 493.014. CARE OF TERMINALLY ILL INMATES. (a) The
1-15 department may provide direct hospice services for terminally ill
1-16 inmates and defendants confined in facilities operated by the
1-17 department or may contract with a licensed hospice for the
1-18 provision of those services.
1-19 (b) In this section, "hospice" and "hospice services" have
1-20 the meanings assigned to those terms by Section 142.001, Health and
1-21 Safety Code.
1-22 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 142.003, Health and
1-23 Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-24 (a) The following persons need not be licensed under this
1-25 chapter:
1-26 (1) a physician, dentist, registered nurse, or
1-27 physical therapist licensed under the laws of this state who
1-28 provides home health services to a client only as a part of and
1-29 incidental to that person's private office practice;
1-30 (2) a registered nurse, licensed vocational nurse,
1-31 physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist,
1-32 medical social worker, or any other health care professional as
1-33 determined by the department who provides home health services as a
1-34 sole practitioner;
1-35 (3) a registry that operates solely as a clearinghouse
1-36 to put consumers in contact with persons who provide home health,
1-37 hospice, or personal assistance services and that does not maintain
1-38 official client records, direct client services, or compensate the
1-39 person who is providing the service;
1-40 (4) an individual whose permanent residence is in the
1-41 client's residence;
1-42 (5) an employee of a person licensed under this
1-43 chapter who provides home health, hospice, or personal assistance
1-44 services only as an employee of the license holder and who receives
1-45 no benefit for providing the services, other than wages from the
1-46 license holder;
1-47 (6) a home, nursing home, convalescent home, personal
1-48 care facility, special care facility, or other institution for
1-49 individuals who are elderly or who have disabilities that provides
1-50 home health or personal assistance services only to residents of
1-51 the home or institution;
1-52 (7) a person who provides one health service through a
1-53 contract with a person licensed under this chapter;
1-54 (8) a durable medical equipment supply company;
1-55 (9) a pharmacy or wholesale medical supply company
1-56 that does not furnish services, other than supplies, to a person at
1-57 the person's house;
1-58 (10) a hospital or other licensed health care facility
1-59 that provides home health or personal assistance services only to
1-60 inpatient residents of the hospital or facility;
1-61 (11) a person providing home health or personal
1-62 assistance services to an injured employee under the Texas Workers'
1-63 Compensation Act (Article 8308-1.01 et seq., Vernon's Texas Civil
1-64 Statutes);
1-65 (12) a visiting nurse service that:
1-66 (A) is conducted by and for the adherents of a
1-67 well-recognized church or religious denomination; and
1-68 (B) provides nursing services by a person exempt
2-1 from licensing by Article 4528, Revised Statutes, because the
2-2 person furnishes nursing care in which treatment is only by prayer
2-3 or spiritual means;
2-4 (13) an individual hired and paid directly by the
2-5 client or the client's family or legal guardian to provide home
2-6 health or personal assistance services;
2-7 (14) a business, school, camp, or other organization
2-8 that provides home health or personal assistance services,
2-9 incidental to the organization's primary purpose, to individuals
2-10 employed by or participating in programs offered by the business,
2-11 school, or camp that enable the individual to participate fully in
2-12 the business's, school's, or camp's programs;
2-13 (15) a person or organization providing
2-14 sitter-companion services or chore or household services that do
2-15 not involve personal care, health, or health-related services;
2-16 (16) a licensed health care facility that provides
2-17 hospice services under a contract with a hospice;
2-18 (17) a person delivering residential acquired immune
2-19 deficiency syndrome hospice care who is licensed and designated as
2-20 a residential AIDS hospice under Chapter 248; or
2-21 (18) the Texas Department of Criminal Justice <until
2-22 August 31, 1995, a state agency, mental retardation authority, or
2-23 mental health authority providing the direct delivery of home
2-24 health, hospice, or personal assistance services>.
2-25 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-26 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-28 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-29 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-30 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-31 * * * * *