LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 82ND LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

May 28, 2011

TO:	Honorable David Dewhurst, Lieutenant Governor, Senate Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:	John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB3459 by Eiland (Relating to the containment of costs incurred in the correctional health care system.), Conference Committee Report

The bill would result in an indeterminate revenue gain to the state.

The bill would amend Sections 499 and 501 of the Government Code to add provisions regarding TDCJ policies designed to manage inmate population based on similar health conditions and to require TDCJ to provide certain over-the-counter medications to offenders through commissary operations and do so at no cost if the inmate is indigent.

 

The bill would require inmates who initiate a visit to a health care provider to pay a $75 health care services fee. The fee would cover all vists to a health care provider the inmate initiates until the first anniversary of the imposition of the fee. This provision of the bill would result in an indeterminate revenue gain to the state.

The bill would require TDCJ, UTMB, and TTUHSC to develop and implement a training program for corrections medication aides similar to the one currently offered by DADS which certifies medication aides who work in nursing homes.

The bill would provide an exemption from end stage renal disease licensing requirements for clinics and hospitals operated on behalf of the state that provide dialysis to individuals receiving services in the correctional managed health care program.

The bill would implement recommendations in the Legislative Budget Board's Government Effectiveness and Efficiency Report entitled "Eliminate Statutory Barriers to Contain Costs in Correctional Managed Health Care,” submitted to the Eighty-second Legislature, 2011. The provisions would reduce costs in the Correctional Managed Health Care program by creating operational efficiencies for the program’s health care providers.

The bill would take effect September 1, 2011.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.

Source Agencies:

529 Health and Human Services Commission, 539 Aging and Disability Services, Department of, 696 Department of Criminal Justice, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 739 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 697 Board of Pardons and Paroles, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board

LBB Staff:

JOB, KK, DH, ESi, JI, AI, GG, LM