By Bernsen                                             S.B. No. 216
         77R1517 MTB-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to grants from the telecommunications infrastructure fund
 1-3     for telemedicine services.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Sections 57.042(7) and (11), Utilities Code, are
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7                 (7)  "Health [Public not-for-profit health] care
 1-8     facility" means a rural or regional hospital or other entity such
 1-9     as a rural health clinic [that:]
1-10                       [(A)  is supported by local or regional tax
1-11     revenue;]
1-12                       [(B)  is a certified not-for-profit health
1-13     corporation, under federal law; or]
1-14                       [(C)  is an ambulatory health care center].
1-15                 (11)  "Telemedicine":
1-16                       (A)  means medical services delivered by
1-17     telecommunications technologies to rural or underserved [public
1-18     not-for-profit] health care facilities or primary health care
1-19     facilities in collaboration with an academic health center and an
1-20     associated teaching hospital or tertiary center or with another
1-21     [public not-for-profit] health care facility; and
1-22                       (B)  includes consultive services, diagnostic
1-23     services, interactive video consultation, teleradiology,
1-24     telepathology, and distance education for working health care
 2-1     professionals.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
 2-3     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
 2-4     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
 2-5     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
 2-6     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.