By: Bivins S.B. No. 1862
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to health and human services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) Subsection (a), Section 252.202, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) A quality assurance fee is imposed on each facility for
which a license fee must be paid under Section 252.034, [and] on
each facility owned by a community mental health and mental
retardation center, as described by Subchapter A, Chapter 534, and
on each facility owned by the Texas Department of Mental Health and
Mental Retardation. The fee:
(1) is an amount established under Subsection (b)
multiplied by the number of patient days as determined in
accordance with Section 252.203;
(2) is payable monthly; and
(3) is in addition to other fees imposed under this
chapter.
(b) Not later than August 31, 2003, the Texas Department of
Mental Health and Mental Retardation shall pay for each facility
owned by the department the quality assurance fee imposed by
Section 252.202, Health and Safety Code, as amended by this
section, for patient days occurring between September 1, 2002, and
July 31, 2003. However, the department is not required to pay that
quality assurance fee as provided by this subsection if this
section does not take effect before September 1, 2003, and, in that
event, any appropriation made to the department for that purpose
may not be made available to the department for that purpose.
SECTION 2. Section 252.203, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 252.203. PATIENT DAYS. For each calendar day, a
facility shall determine the number of patient days by adding the
following:
(1) the number of patients occupying a facility bed
immediately before midnight of that day; and
(2) [the number of beds that are on hold on that day
and that have been placed on hold for a period not to exceed three
consecutive calendar days during which a patient is in a hospital;
and
[(3)] the number of beds that are on hold on that day
and that have been placed on hold for a period not to exceed three
consecutive calendar days during which a patient is on therapeutic
[home] leave.
SECTION 3. Subsection (b), Section 252.204, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) Each facility shall:
(1) not later than the 20th [10th] day after the last
day of a month file a report with the Health and Human Services
Commission or the department, as appropriate, stating the total
patient days for the month; and
(2) not later than the 30th day after the last day of
the month pay the quality assurance fee.
SECTION 4. (a) Subsections (a) and (c), Section 252.207,
Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) Subject to legislative appropriation and state and
federal law, the [The] Health and Human Services Commission may
[shall] use money in the quality assurance fund, together with any
federal money available to match that money[, to]:
(1) to offset [allowable] expenses incurred to
administer the quality assurance fee under this chapter [under the
Medicaid program]; [or]
(2) to increase reimbursement rates paid under the
Medicaid program to facilities or waiver programs for persons with
mental retardation operated in accordance with 42 U.S.C. Section
1396n(c) and its subsequent amendments; or
(3) for any other health and human services purpose
approved by the governor and Legislative Budget Board[, subject to
Section 252.206(d)].
(c) If money in the quality assurance fund is used to
increase a reimbursement rate in the Medicaid program, the [The]
Health and Human Services Commission shall ensure that the
reimbursement methodology used to set that rate [formula devised
under Subsection (b)] provides incentives to increase direct care
staffing and direct care wages and benefits.
(b) Subsection (b), Section 252.207, Health and Safety
Code, is repealed.
SECTION 5. Notwithstanding any other statute of this state,
each health and human services agency, as defined by Section
531.001, Government Code, is authorized to reduce expenditures by:
(1) consolidating any reports or publications the
agency is required to make and filing or delivering any of those
reports or publications exclusively by electronic means;
(2) extending the effective period of any license,
permit, or registration the agency grants or administers;
(3) entering into a contract with another governmental
entity or with a private vendor to carry out any of the agency's
duties;
(4) providing that any communication between the
agency and another person and any document required to be delivered
to or by the agency, including any application, notice, billing
statement, receipt, or certificate, may be made or delivered by
electronic mail or through the Internet; and
(5) adopting and collecting fees or charges to cover
any costs the agency incurs in performing its lawful functions.
SECTION 6. If before implementing any provision of this Act
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
waiver or authorization is granted.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.