79R7089 MSE-D

By:  Naishtat                                                     H.B. No. 2302



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to outreach and marketing of the child health plan 
program.        
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 62, Health and Safety 
Code, is amended by adding Sections 62.056 and 62.057 to read as 
follows:
	Sec. 62.056.  COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND EDUCATION CAMPAIGN; 
TOLL-FREE HOTLINE.  (a)  The commission shall conduct a community 
outreach and education campaign to provide information relating to 
the availability of health benefits for children under this 
chapter.  The commission shall conduct the campaign in a manner that 
promotes enrollment in, and minimizes duplication of effort among, 
all state-administered child health programs.
	(b)  The community outreach and education campaign must 
include:      
		(1)  outreach efforts that involve school-based health 
clinics;      
		(2)  a toll-free telephone number through which 
families may obtain information about health benefits coverage for 
children; and
		(3)  a statewide marketing program promoting child 
health programs.  
	(c)  The commission shall contract with community-based 
organizations or coalitions of community-based organizations to 
implement the community outreach and education campaign and shall 
also promote and encourage voluntary efforts to implement the 
campaign.  The commission shall procure the contracts through a 
process designed by the commission to encourage broad participation 
of organizations, including organizations that target population 
groups with high levels of uninsured children.
	(d)  The commission may implement contracts with 
community-based organizations or coalitions of community-based 
organizations under Subsection (c) through the commission's 
integrated eligibility vendor.
	(e)  The commission or its integrated eligibility vendor 
must ensure that each community-based organization has an adequate 
supply of child health plan program applications and return 
envelopes at all times.
	(f)  In implementing the statewide marketing program 
required by Subsection (b)(3), the commission may:
		(1)  contract directly with a vendor; or                               
		(2)  require the commission's integrated eligibility 
vendor to:      
			(A)  conduct the marketing; or                                        
			(B)  subcontract with another qualified vendor 
approved by the commission to conduct the marketing.
	(g)  The commission shall develop as part of the community 
outreach and education campaign an annual outreach plan for the 
child health plan program on which the public is provided an 
opportunity to comment at a hearing.
	(h)  The commission is the agency responsible for oversight 
of the community outreach and education campaign.  The commission 
may not delegate this duty to another agency or entity.
	(i)  The community outreach and education campaign must be at 
least as extensive as the community outreach and education campaign 
in effect during the fiscal year beginning September 1, 2002.
	Sec. 62.057.  REPORT ON STATEWIDE MARKETING PROGRAM 
REQUIRED.  The executive commissioner shall adopt rules requiring 
the commission's managed care external quality review organization 
to submit a report to the commission not later than June 1 of each 
even-numbered year that evaluates the effectiveness of and 
recommends improvements to the statewide marketing program 
required by Section 62.056(b)(3).
	SECTION 2.  (a)  Not later than March 1, 2006, the Health and 
Human Services Commission shall implement the community outreach 
and education campaign required by Section 62.056, Health and 
Safety Code, as added by this Act.
	(b)  Not later than March 1, 2006, the executive commissioner 
of the Health and Human Services Commission shall adopt rules as 
required by Section 62.057, Health and Safety Code, as added by this 
Act.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.