BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2710

By: Coleman

County Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Physical and occupational therapy are not services a county is currently required to provide under the state indigent health care program. A patient's only option is to seek these services at a hospital, but many of the state's poorest residents do not live near a hospital and do not have access to physical and occupational therapy services.

C.S.H.B. 2710 adds physical and occupational therapy services to the medically necessary services a county is authorized to provide under the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 2 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2710 amends the Health and Safety Code to include physical and occupational therapy services as medically necessary services a county is authorized to provide in accordance with Department of State Health Services rules, in addition to the basic health services the county is currently required to provide under the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act. The bill requires the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules necessary to implement this provision as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2710 differs from the original by authorizing a county to provide physical and occupational therapy services as medically necessary services, whereas the original requires a county to provide physical and occupational therapy services as basic health care services. The substitute removes a provision from the original establishing that a county is not required to provide the services before January 1, 2010. The substitute requires the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date, rather than not later than December 1, 2009, as in the original.