| TO: | Honorable Patrick M. Rose, Chair, House Committee on Human Services |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB583 by Dukes (Relating to expansion of the electronic eligibility information pilot project operated by the Health and Human Services Commission.), As Introduced |
The bill would expand from one urban area to two urban areas in which a pilot program would be established relating to electronic importation of eligibility information from regional indigent care collaborative systems. The bill would require the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), in its continuing establishment of the pilot program, to create a project in which electronic applications for indigent care created by regional indigent care networks are directly imported into the Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign System (TIERS), the System of Application, Verification, Eligibility, Referral, and Reporting (SAVERR), or another state electronic eligibility system, as appropriate, (rather than electronic applications being shared with HHSC) to facilitate enrollment in programs administered by HHSC. The bill would require HHSC to conduct an evaluation of the program and report its findings to the standing comittees of the senate and house of representatives having primary jurisdiction over health and human services issues by October 1, 2010.
It is assumed that expansion of the pilot program would be carried out in TIERS rather than SAVERR because, according to agency estimates, this would require less time for implementation and would be at a lower implementation cost, and because SAVERR is scheduled to be retired as soon as TIERS rollout is complete. It is assumed that the cost of the bill would not be significant and could be absorbed within existing resources.
| Source Agencies: | 529 Health and Human Services Commission
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, CL, JJ, MB
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