83R8949 JSL-D
 
  By: Guillen H.B. No. 2681
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to a pilot project to determine the most efficient
  transportation service delivery model for the Medicaid medical
  transportation program.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 531.024141 to read as follows:
         Sec. 531.024141.  MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM PILOT
  PROJECT. (a) In this section, "medical transportation program" has
  the meaning assigned by Section 531.02414.
         (b)  The commission shall develop and implement a pilot
  project to determine the most efficient delivery model for the
  medical transportation program. The project must implement one or
  more of the following transportation service delivery models in
  various health care service regions in this state:
               (1)  a full-risk broker model;
               (2)  a managed care model;
               (3)  a model that maintains and expands structures for
  delivery of medical transportation services existing on January 1,
  2013;
               (4)  a model incorporating contracts with rural and
  urban transit agencies for delivery of medical transportation
  services; and
               (5)  a hybrid model that incorporates different
  elements of the other models listed in this subsection.
         (c)  In selecting the regions to participate in the pilot
  project and the transportation service delivery model to implement
  in a selected region, the commission shall consider geographic and
  client needs and existing transportation infrastructure in the
  regions.
         (d)  The commission shall contract with an independent
  private entity to assist the commission in developing,
  implementing, and evaluating the pilot project. A contract between
  the commission and a private entity shall require that the private
  entity:
               (1)  assist the commission in developing outcome
  measures and evaluation criteria that are capable of determining
  operation efficiency and cost-effectiveness of each of the
  transportation service delivery models implemented under this
  section;
               (2)  conduct an evaluation of the results of the pilot
  project based on identified outcome measures and criteria; and
               (3)  produce a report that is based on the evaluation
  that contains:
                     (A)  a summary of the operation of the different
  implemented transportation service delivery models and the
  identified outcome measures and evaluation criteria for each model;
                     (B)  an assessment of the relative operation
  efficiency and cost-effectiveness of each model;
                     (C)  a recommendation regarding the model that is
  most efficiently operated and most cost-effective; and
                     (D)  a recommendation as to whether the model
  identified in Paragraph (C) should be implemented statewide.
         (e)  Not later than December 1, 2014, the commission shall
  submit to the legislature the report produced in accordance with
  Subsection (d)(3) and a description of any action the commission
  has taken or intends to take based on the report. The commission
  shall also hold periodic briefings on the commission's own
  initiative or at the legislature's request to inform the
  legislature of the progress of the pilot project.
         (f)  The commission may not change a transportation service
  delivery model or implement a new model in a health care service
  region that is not selected for inclusion in the pilot project under
  Subsection (b):
               (1)  until the legislature has had an opportunity to
  review the report under Subsection (d)(3); and
               (2)  unless the revised or new model is the model
  identified by the private entity in Subsection (d)(3)(C).
         (g)  The commission shall allow a medical transportation
  service provider delivering service on August 1, 2013, under a
  full-risk broker model to continue operating according to the
  contract between the commission and the provider, but the
  commission may not, subject to Subsection (f), implement the
  full-risk broker model in any additional health care service
  regions, including a region in which the pilot project is
  implemented.
         (h)  If the commission chooses to implement a managed care
  model in a health care service region as part of the pilot project,
  the commission may do so only in a region in which Medicaid health
  care services have been delivered using a managed care model for at
  least two years at the time the commission implements a managed care
  transportation service delivery model as part of the pilot project.
         (i)  The commission shall seek to extend any contract that is
  scheduled to expire before December 1, 2013, under which a medical
  transportation service provider is obligated to provide
  transportation services using a transportation service delivery
  model listed in Subsection (b) to enable the proper evaluation of
  all models.
         (j)  This section expires September 1, 2015.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2013.