LSL C.S.H.B. 1798 75(R) PUBLIC HEALTH C.S.H.B. 1798 By: Wise 3-26-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND While not a crime of epidemic proportions, the number of abductions and attempted abductions of infants from hospitals has increased over the last ten years. Other states have responded to this problem by ensuring that hospitals have in place precautionary policy and procedures regarding infant patient identification and safety. Illinois and California, for example, have enacted abduction prevention legislation directed at the conditions of hospital licensure and government funds reimbursement. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), hospital measures such as architectural barriers which limit public access to infant care units, video monitoring of such areas, and stringent identification of staff and visitors in areas of infant care would prevent the likelihood of abductions. Identifying a very young child, thought to be abducted, can be difficult. Texas children's advocacy centers believe that hospital policy and procedures can be established that will aid in the identification of allegedly missing infants who are recovered. Such procedures may include the maintenance of records and copies of infant foot prints and photographs taken at birth or admission, and the obtaining and retaining of cord blood samples for genetic testing. PURPOSE CSHB 1798 recommends hospital security procedures to help prevent infant hospital abductions in Texas. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section 241.0263, entitled "Recommendations Relating to Missing Children," to read as follows: Subsection (a) requires the Texas Department of Health (TDH) to recommend hospital security procedures to reduce the likelihood of infant patient abductions and aid in the identification of missing infants. Subsection (b) requires TDH to consider hospital size and location and the number of births at the hospital when making recommendations. Subsection (c) lists possible procedures to be recommended by TDH to reduce the likelihood of infant patient abductions, including controlling access to newborn nurseries; expanding observation of newborn nurseries through the use of video cameras; and requiring identification for hospital staff and visitors as a condition of entrance to newborn nurseries. Subsection (d) lists possible procedures to be recommended by TDH to aid in the identification of missing infants, including foot printing, photographing, or writing descriptions of infant patients at birth; and obtaining umbilical cord blood samples for infants born at the hospital and storing the samples for genetic purposes. Subsection (e) requires each hospital licensed under this chapter to consider implementing the procedures recommended under this section. SECTION 2. Establishes that the effective date of this Act is September 1, 1997. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE HB 1798 tied in the requirement that hospitals implement procedures relating to missing children to eligibility for issuance or renewal of hospital licensure. CSHB 1798 changes this language to require that the Texas Department of Health make recommendations which hospitals are required to consider. Additionally, the requirement that TDH consider the size and location of the hospital as well as the number of births at the hospital when making these recommendations is added to the substitute. The term "infant care areas" in the original bill is changed to "newborn nurseries" in the substitute. Subsection (d)(1) of the substitute omits the recommendation that "on admission to the hospital" foot printing, photographing or writing descriptions of infant patients be implemented as a procedure to aid in the identification of missing infants.