1-1           By:  Moncrief                                   S.C.R. No. 14

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 5, 1997; February 10, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human

 1-4     Services; March 6, 1997, reported favorably, as amended, by the

 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 11, Nays 0; March 6, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6     COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                             By:  Moncrief

 1-7           Amend S.C.R. No. 14 on page 2, line 3 by inserting the

 1-8     following language between "state" and ";":

 1-9     ", contingent upon the commission receiving gifts and grants of

1-10     money, property, or services for the purposes of developing and

1-11     evaluating this assessment process"

1-12                        SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

1-13           WHEREAS, The Texas Health and Human Services Commission

1-14     convened a work group, at the direction of the 74th Legislature, to

1-15     identify barriers to the use of home-based and community-based

1-16     long-term care services and to recommend strategies to remove those

1-17     barriers; and

1-18           WHEREAS, The work group found that the current long-term care

1-19     delivery system is fragmented and duplicative; and

1-20           WHEREAS, The work group found that the state administers

1-21     multiple waiver programs providing home-based and community-based

1-22     long-term care services, each of which provides a different but

1-23     incomplete array of services based on specific diagnosis-related

1-24     eligibility criteria and suggested that consolidation of the

1-25     waivers might enable the state to provide a more comprehensive

1-26     array of services, better tailored to individual needs, while also

1-27     reducing administrative duplication; and

1-28           WHEREAS, The work group also found that eligibility criteria

1-29     based on diagnosis rather than on an individual's functional need

1-30     is a major barrier to services and that eligibility determination

1-31     based on level of functioning would allow for more individualized

1-32     service delivery; and

1-33           WHEREAS, The work group also found that many caseworkers and

1-34     case managers of home-based and community-based long-term care

1-35     programs know little about other home-based and community-based

1-36     long-term care programs and have no comprehensive source of

1-37     information available and that this lack of knowledge and

1-38     information hinders their effectiveness in assisting clients; now,

1-39     therefore, be it

1-40           RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas

1-41     hereby direct the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, in

1-42     conjunction with the appropriate agencies, to develop a plan to

1-43     coordinate long-term care service delivery and administration in

1-44     order to expand the array of available services, to enhance client

1-45     access to services and reduce the length of waiting lists, to

1-46     provide services in the least restrictive setting, and to maximize

1-47     funding and eliminate administrative duplication and to report its

1-48     findings by January 15, 1998, to the governor, lieutenant governor,

1-49     speaker of the house of representatives, the Senate Health and

1-50     Human Services Committee, the House Human Services and Public

1-51     Health Committees, and the Sunset Advisory Commission; and, be it

1-52     further

1-53           RESOLVED, That the legislature also direct the Texas Health

1-54     and Human Services Commission to determine the feasibility of

1-55     collapsing the multiple waivers for home-based and community-based

1-56     long-term care services into a single waiver which would provide

1-57     the state with the flexibility to determine the appropriate service

1-58     mix for each individual based on functional need, to maximize the

1-59     array of available services, and to reduce administrative

1-60     duplication; and, be it further

1-61           RESOLVED, That the legislature also direct the Texas Health

1-62     and Human Services Commission to oversee the development and

 2-1     evaluation of a uniform functional assessment process, irrespective

 2-2     of age or diagnosis, for all long-term care programs offered by the

 2-3     state; and, be it further

 2-4           RESOLVED, That the legislature also direct the Texas Health

 2-5     and Human Services Commission to work with the appropriate agencies

 2-6     to develop training for caseworkers and case managers of long-term

 2-7     care programs which familiarizes them with the range of long-term

 2-8     care programs offered by the state; and, be it further

 2-9           RESOLVED, That the Texas Health and Human Services Commission

2-10     report on its progress with the multiple waiver study, the

2-11     development and evaluation of a uniform functional assessment

2-12     process, and the caseworker training by January 15, 1999, to the

2-13     governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of

2-14     representatives, the Senate Health and Human Services Committee,

2-15     and the House Human Services and Public Health Committees; and, be

2-16     it further

2-17           RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official

2-18     copy of this resolution to the Texas Health and Human Services

2-19     Commission.

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