81R4300 SJM-D

By: Bohac H.B. No. 1426

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 which the pilot program is conducted 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 clinic for women, infants, and children.

(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 county must:

(1) have a population of more than one million; and

(2) have documented a high percentage of women who engage in frequent consumption of alcoholic beverages.

(d) In the counties in which the pilot program is conducted under this section, the Office for the Prevention of Developmental Disabilities, Department of State Health Services, and Department of Family and Protective Services shall:

(1) develop an action plan to require each health and human services provider to:

(A) screen for alcohol consumption by women between the ages of 18 and 44 years who 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 treats 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 analyzed 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, 2011.

(f) This section expires January 1, 2013.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.