BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center H.B. 2618
79R13050 UM-F By: Eiland (Nelson)
AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Currently, services provided at a federally qualified health center (FQHC) are included among the optional services that a county may offer under the state’s Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. The funding a county gives to a FQHC can be counted toward meeting the eight percent spending threshold a county must surpass to receive state funding. In order to apply this money toward the threshold, however, the county must spend the money on services for people who meet the eligibility criteria laid out in the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. Under current law, a county may credit an expenditure for an eligible resident toward eligibility for state assistance if the eligible resident received care at a hospital maintained or operated by a state agency.
H.B. 2618 allows counties to credit money given to FQHCs toward their eligibility for state assistance.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
[While the statutory reference in this bill is to the Texas Department of Health (TDH), the following amendments affect the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), as the successor agency to TDH]
SECTION 1. Amends Section 61.036(c), Health and Safety Code, to authorize a county, regardless of the application, documentation, and verification procedures or eligibility standards established by the Texas Department of Health under Subchapter A, to credit an expenditure for an eligible resident toward eligibility for state assistance if the eligible resident received the health care services at a federally qualified health center delivering federally qualified health services, as those terms are defined in 42 U.S.C. Sections 1396d(1)(2)(A) and (B), that has a contract with the county to provide health card services.
SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2005.