BILL ANALYSIS
By: Eiland
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
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 such 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.
C.S.H.B. 2618 allows counties to credit money given to FQHC’s toward their eligibility for state assistance.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 61.036(c), Health and Safety Code, by adding that a county is authorized 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 center services as defined by 42 U.S.C. Sections 1396d(1)(2)(A) and (B), that has a contract with the county to provide health care services.
SECTION 2. Effective Date
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2005.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
The Substitute to H.B. 2618 changes SECTION 1. of the bill to amend Section 61.036(c) of the Health and Safety Code to say that a county may credit an expenditure for an eligible resident toward eligibility for state assistance if the eligible resident received care at a federally qualified health center. House Bill 2618, as filed, allowed counties to credit money given to FQHC’s toward the eight percent threshold regardless of whether the clients served meet the eligibility criteria of the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act.