| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the establishment of a pilot program in certain |
|
|
counties to require health and human services providers to provide |
|
|
screening to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. (a) In this section: |
|
|
(1) "Center for Health Statistics" means the Center |
|
|
for Health Statistics of the Department of State Health Services. |
|
|
(2) "Health and human services provider" means a |
|
|
health care provider that receives public money from a program |
|
|
under Title IV, Title V, Title XIX, or Title XX, Social Security Act |
|
|
(42 U.S.C. Section 301 et seq.), and that provides health and human |
|
|
services to women in the counties in the pilot program under this |
|
|
section. The term includes: |
|
|
(A) a primary health care provider; |
|
|
(B) an obstetrical or gynecological service |
|
|
provider; |
|
|
(C) a prenatal and family planning service |
|
|
provider; |
|
|
(D) a family protective service program |
|
|
provider; and |
|
|
(E) a women, infants, and children clinic. |
|
|
(b) The Office for the Prevention of Developmental |
|
|
Disabilities, Department of State Health Services, and Department |
|
|
of Family and Protective Services shall establish a pilot program |
|
|
to: |
|
|
(1) support public and private efforts to identify |
|
|
women who are at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy through the |
|
|
creation of a network of health and human services providers that |
|
|
screen women of childbearing age for alcohol consumption; and |
|
|
(2) provide alcohol education to women between the |
|
|
ages of 18 and 44 years. |
|
|
(c) The pilot program shall be conducted in three urban |
|
|
counties each of which have a population of more than one million |
|
|
have reported a high percentage of women who engage in frequent |
|
|
consumption of alcoholic beverages. |
|
|
(d) In developing the pilot program under this section, the |
|
|
Office for the Prevention of Developmental Disabilities, |
|
|
Department of State Health Services, and Department of Family and |
|
|
Protective Services shall, for the counties of the pilot program: |
|
|
(1) develop an action plan to require each health and |
|
|
human services provider to: |
|
|
(A) screen for alcohol consumption by women who |
|
|
are between the ages of 18 and 44 years and are receiving services |
|
|
from the provider; and |
|
|
(B) provide data on the results of the screening |
|
|
conducted under Paragraph (A) of this subdivision to the Department |
|
|
of State Health Services; |
|
|
(2) adopt rules that: |
|
|
(A) establish minimum standards for screening |
|
|
women for alcohol consumption in health and human services programs |
|
|
and for reporting the screening data to the Center for Health |
|
|
Statistics; |
|
|
(B) require a health and human services provider |
|
|
that is licensed in this state and that treats children or women of |
|
|
childbearing age to document in each child's or woman's medical |
|
|
record any known substance abuse or any alcohol consumption that |
|
|
exceeds more than four drinks on one occasion by the woman or by the |
|
|
child's mother during the mother's pregnancy with the child; |
|
|
(C) establish minimum standards for: |
|
|
(i) treating women who are pregnant or at |
|
|
risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy and who are enrolled in a |
|
|
chemical dependency treatment program; and |
|
|
(ii) reporting the treatment data to the |
|
|
Center for Health Statistics; |
|
|
(D) give the highest priority for access to |
|
|
chemical dependency treatment to women who are at risk for an |
|
|
alcohol-exposed pregnancy; and |
|
|
(E) require the dissemination of information on |
|
|
the prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders to all women of |
|
|
childbearing age receiving services from a health and human |
|
|
services provider; |
|
|
(3) train, under a written training protocol: |
|
|
(A) physicians, physician assistants, nurses, |
|
|
caseworkers, and family protective services workers to administer |
|
|
an alcohol consumption screening tool and to report the data |
|
|
collected to the Center for Health Statistics; and |
|
|
(B) counselors to administer a brief fetal |
|
|
alcohol spectrum disorders intervention to women of childbearing |
|
|
age who are enrolled in chemical dependency treatment; |
|
|
(4) analyze: |
|
|
(A) the screening data reported by health and |
|
|
human services providers to the Center for Health Statistics; and |
|
|
(B) the intervention data of women enrolled in |
|
|
treatment reported by health and human services providers to the |
|
|
Center for Health Statistics; |
|
|
(5) determine, from the data under Subdivision (4) of |
|
|
this subsection, the number of women who may be at risk for an |
|
|
alcohol-exposed pregnancy; and |
|
|
(6) disseminate information on the prevention of fetal |
|
|
alcohol spectrum disorders to all women of childbearing age |
|
|
receiving services from a health and human services provider. |
|
|
(e) The Office for the Prevention of Developmental |
|
|
Disabilities, Department of State Health Services, and Department |
|
|
of Family and Protective Services shall report the findings of the |
|
|
pilot program conducted under this section to the legislature not |
|
|
later than December 1, 2009. |
|
|
(f) This section expires January 1, 2011. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007. |