By: Nelson, Van de Putte S.B. No. 219
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to health and mental health services for children in
  foster care and kinship care.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 264.015, Family Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         Sec. 264.015.  TRAINING.  (a)  The department shall include
  training in trauma-informed programs and services in any training
  the department provides to foster parents, adoptive parents,
  kinship caregivers, [and] department caseworkers, and department
  supervisors.  The department shall pay for the training provided
  under this subsection [section] with gifts, donations, and grants
  and any federal money available through the Fostering Connections
  to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No.
  110-351). The department shall annually evaluate the effectiveness
  of the training provided under this subsection to ensure progress
  toward a trauma-informed system of care.
         (b)  The department shall require department caseworkers and
  department supervisors to complete an annual refresher training
  course in trauma-informed programs and services.
         (c)  To the extent that resources are available, the
  department shall assist the following entities in developing
  training in trauma-informed programs and services and in locating
  money and other resources to assist the entities in providing
  trauma-informed programs and services:
               (1)  court-appointed special advocate programs;
               (2)  children's advocacy centers;
               (3)  local community mental health centers created
  under Section 534.001, Health and Safety Code; and
               (4)  domestic violence shelters.
         SECTION 2.  Section 531.0216, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
         (c-1)  The commission shall:
               (1)  explore opportunities to increase STAR Health
  program providers' use of telemedicine medical services in
  medically underserved areas of this state; and
               (2)  encourage STAR Health program providers to use
  telemedicine medical services as appropriate.
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter A, Chapter 533, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Sections 533.0052 and 533.0053 to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 533.0052.  STAR HEALTH PROGRAM:  TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE
  TRAINING. (a)  A contract between a managed care organization and
  the commission for the organization to provide health care services
  to recipients under the STAR Health program must include a
  requirement that trauma-informed care training be offered to each
  contracted physician or provider.
         (b)  The commission shall encourage each managed care
  organization providing health care services to recipients under the
  STAR Health program to make training in post-traumatic stress
  disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder available to
  a contracted physician or provider within a reasonable time after
  the date the physician or provider begins providing services under
  the managed care plan.
         Sec. 533.0053.  COMPLIANCE WITH TEXAS HEALTH STEPS.  The
  commission shall encourage each managed care organization
  providing health care services to a recipient under the STAR Health
  program to ensure that the organization's network providers comply
  with the regimen of care prescribed by the Texas Health Steps
  program under Section 32.056, Human Resources Code, if applicable,
  including the requirement to provide a mental health screening
  during each of the recipient's Texas Health Steps medical exams
  conducted by a network provider.
         SECTION 4.  (a)  Subsection (a), Section 533.0052,
  Government Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a contract
  between the Health and Human Services Commission and a managed care
  organization that is entered into or renewed on or after the
  effective date of this Act.
         (b)  To the extent permitted by law or the terms of the
  contract, the Health and Human Services Commission shall amend a
  contract entered into before the effective date of this Act with a
  managed care organization to require compliance with Subsection
  (a), Section 533.0052, Government Code, as added by this Act.
         SECTION 5.  If before implementing any provision of this Act
  a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
  federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
  the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
  authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
  waiver or authorization is granted.
         SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.