By Maxey H.B. No. 766
77R1979 MTB-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to funding telemedicine service and health care facilities
1-3 through a grant or loan from the telecommunications infrastructure
1-4 fund.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Sections 57.042(7)-(11), Utilities Code, are
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (7) ["Public not-for-profit health care facility"
1-9 means a rural or regional hospital or other entity such as a rural
1-10 health clinic that:]
1-11 [(A) is supported by local or regional tax
1-12 revenue;]
1-13 [(B) is a certified not-for-profit health
1-14 corporation, under federal law; or]
1-15 [(C) is an ambulatory health care center.]
1-16 [(8)] "School district" includes an independent school
1-17 district, a common school district, and a rural high school
1-18 district.
1-19 (8) [(9)] "Public school" means a public elementary or
1-20 secondary school, including an open-enrollment charter school, a
1-21 home-rule school district school, and a school with a campus or
1-22 campus program charter.
1-23 (9) [(10)][(11)] "Telemedicine" means a health service
2-3 delivered by a physician or a person to whom a physician may
2-4 delegate certain medical acts under Subchapters A and B, Chapter
2-5 157, Occupations Code, that requires the use of advanced
2-6 telecommunications technology. The term includes compressed digital
2-7 interactive video, audio, or data transmission and clinical data
2-8 transmission via computer imaging by way of still image and
2-9 capture. The term does not include services performed using a
2-10 telephone or facsimile machine.[:]
2-11 [(A) means medical services delivered by
2-12 telecommunications technologies to rural or underserved public
2-13 not-for-profit health care facilities or primary health care
2-14 facilities in collaboration with an academic health center and an
2-15 associated teaching hospital or tertiary center or with another
2-16 public not-for-profit health care facility; and]
2-17 [(B) includes consultive services, diagnostic
2-18 services, interactive video consultation, teleradiology,
2-19 telepathology, and distance education for working health care
2-20 professionals.]
2-21 SECTION 2. Section 57.047(a), Utilities Code, is amended to
2-22 read as follows:
2-23 (a) The board may award a grant to a project or proposal
2-24 that:
2-25 (1) provides equipment and infrastructure necessary
2-26 for:
2-27 (A) distance learning;
3-1 (B) an information sharing program of a library;
3-2 [or]
3-3 (C) telemedicine services; or
3-4 (D) telemedicine services for an eligible health
3-5 care facility;
3-6 (2) develops and implements the initial or
3-7 prototypical delivery of a course or other distance learning
3-8 material;
3-9 (3) trains teachers, faculty, librarians, or
3-10 technicians in the use of distance learning or information sharing
3-11 materials and equipment;
3-12 (4) develops a curriculum or instructional material
3-13 specially suited for telecommunications delivery;
3-14 (5) provides electronic information; or
3-15 (6) establishes or carries out an information sharing
3-16 program.
3-17 SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 57, Utilities Code, is
3-18 amended by adding Section 57.0471 to read as follows:
3-19 Sec. 57.0471. ELIGIBILITY FOR GRANT TO HEALTH CARE FACILITY.
3-20 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (c), the board may award a
3-21 grant under Section 57.047(a)(1)(D) to a health care facility that:
3-22 (1) is a hospital or other entity such as a health
3-23 clinic or dental facility that:
3-24 (A) is supported by local or regional tax
3-25 revenue;
3-26 (B) is a certified not-for-profit health
3-27 corporation under federal law; or
4-1 (C) is an ambulatory health care center; or
4-2 (2) meets the criteria adopted by the board and the
4-3 Health and Human Services Commission under Subsection (b).
4-4 (b) The board and the Health and Human Services Commission
4-5 shall jointly adopt rules prescribing the criteria a health care
4-6 facility not described by Subsection (a)(1) must meet to be
4-7 eligible to receive a grant under Section 57.047(a)(1)(D). In
4-8 determining the criteria, the board and commission must prioritize
4-9 health care facilities based on:
4-10 (1) the amount of charity care provided by the
4-11 facility during the year preceding the year in which the facility
4-12 applies for a grant; and
4-13 (2) the number of Medicaid patients treated by the
4-14 facility during the year preceding the year in which the facility
4-15 applies for a grant.
4-16 (c) The rules adopted under Subsection (b) must provide that
4-17 a health care facility is not eligible to receive a grant under
4-18 Section 57.047(a)(1)(D) if the health care facility did not provide
4-19 any charity care or treat any Medicaid patients during the year
4-20 preceding the year in which the facility applies for a grant.
4-21 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.