IML C.S.H.B. 2017 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS PUBLIC HEALTH C.S.H.B. 2017 By: Maxey 4/18/97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND In 1989, Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) received a federal demonstration grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Rural Health Policy. With the funding from this grant, HealthNet, the state's largest telemedicine system, was created. HealthNet connects TTUHSC's four West Texas campuses with rural health care facilities and prisons. The system provides various medical services that include interactive video consultations, teleradiology, health care consultations from prisons, and continuing education. Currently, the telemedicine system is supported through funds from the medical school. The consulting physicians are staff of the health science center, and do not receive any reimbursement from Medicaid, Medicare, or private payers. The State Comptroller's, Texas Performance Review Report - Disturbing the Peace: The Challenge of Change, recommended that the State Medicaid Office establish procedures to reimburse providers who offer services by telemedicine. PURPOSE CSHB 2017 requires the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to develop and implement a system to reimburse providers for services performed using telemedicine. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly grants additional rulemaking authority to the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 531.0215(a), Subchapter B, Government Code). SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, by adding the following: Sec. 531.0215. PARTICIPATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF TELEMEDICINE SERVICE PROVIDERS UNDER MEDICAID. Subsection (a) requires the HHSC to create rules to develop and implement a system to reimburse providers of services under the state Medicaid program for services performed using telemedicine. Subsection (b) requires the HHSC to review programs in other states, establish billing codes and fees, and provide for an approval process. Subsection (c) requires the HHSC to encourage certain providers to participate in the telemedicine program. Subsection (d) defines "telemedicine" as specified in Section 3.606, Public Utility Regulatory Act of 1995 (Article 1446c-0, V.T.C.S.) SECTION 2. Requires Texas Tech University (TTU), with the cooperation of HHSC, to contact the Health Care Financing Administration as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, regarding approval of the federal waiver submitted before the effective date of this Act to allow TTU to receive reimbursement under the federal research and demonstration project for telemedicine services provided under the Medicare program. SECTION 3. Emergency Clause. This Act is effective upon passage. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE SECTION 1. CSHB 2017 adds the words "PARTICIPATION AND" to the title of Section 531.0215. CSHB 2017 strikes Subsections (b)(4)-(5) of the original bill, requiring HHSC to (4) establish a state network of telemedicine service providers and (5) work to ensure that small rural hospitals benefit from telemedicine, and adds Subsection (c) as detailed above. These changes were made to avoid fiscal implications. CSHB 2017 incorporates Subsection (c) of the original bill, defining "telemedicine," into Subsection (d).