| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the reporting of physical assaults against certain |
|
|
direct care personnel. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subtitle B, Title 4, Health and Safety Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Chapter 258A to read as follows: |
|
|
CHAPTER 258A. REPORTING ASSAULTS AGAINST DIRECT CARE PERSONNEL |
|
|
Sec. 258A.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: |
|
|
(1) "Department" means the Department of State Health |
|
|
Services. |
|
|
(2) "Direct care personnel" means individuals who: |
|
|
(A) provide health care services to patients in a |
|
|
health care facility; or |
|
|
(B) provide home health, hospice, or personal |
|
|
assistance as an employee of or under contract with a home and |
|
|
community support agency. |
|
|
(3) "Health care facility" means a facility that |
|
|
provides health care services to patients and includes: |
|
|
(A) a facility licensed under this subtitle, |
|
|
including a hospital or nursing home; |
|
|
(B) a private mental hospital licensed under |
|
|
Chapter 577; or |
|
|
(C) a hospital that is maintained or operated by |
|
|
the state. |
|
|
(4) "Home and community support agency" means an |
|
|
agency licensed under Chapter 142. |
|
|
(5) "Physical assault" means conduct constituting an |
|
|
offense under Section 22.01, Penal Code. |
|
|
Sec. 258A.002. POLICY. (a) Each health care facility or |
|
|
home and community support agency shall adopt and implement a |
|
|
policy under which direct care personnel report to the facility or |
|
|
agency any incidents of physical assault. |
|
|
(b) A policy adopted under this section must require the |
|
|
reporting of: |
|
|
(1) the job title of the direct care personnel |
|
|
assaulted; |
|
|
(2) the type of assault; |
|
|
(3) the extent of the injury to the direct care |
|
|
personnel; |
|
|
(4) the location where the assault occurred, including |
|
|
any specific department or area of a health care facility; and |
|
|
(5) whether the person who engaged in the physical |
|
|
assault was a patient, client, or resident, a family member, or |
|
|
another staff member. |
|
|
Sec. 258A.003. REPORTING. (a) Each health care facility or |
|
|
home and community support agency shall annually report |
|
|
de-identified aggregate data to the department on the incidents of |
|
|
physical assault against direct care personnel that were reported |
|
|
to the facility or agency by direct care personnel. |
|
|
(b) The report to the department may not contain any |
|
|
information that could personally identify the person who engaged |
|
|
in the physical assault, a victim of the assault, or a facility at |
|
|
which an assault occurred. |
|
|
(c) The department may coordinate the reporting under this |
|
|
section with other required reports made to the department under |
|
|
other law. |
|
|
(d) De-identified aggregate data reported under this |
|
|
section is public information subject to Chapter 552, Government |
|
|
Code. |
|
|
Sec. 258A.004. HEALTH PROFESSIONS RESOURCE CENTER. (a) The |
|
|
department, after reviewing the data reported to the department |
|
|
under this chapter to ensure that personal identifying information |
|
|
is not included, shall make the data available to the health |
|
|
professions resource center established under Chapter 105. |
|
|
(b) The health professions resource center shall prepare an |
|
|
annual report based on the data supplied by the department under |
|
|
this section. |
|
|
SECTION 2. (a) A facility or agency subject to Section |
|
|
258A.002, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, shall adopt |
|
|
the policy required by that section not later than January 1, 2016. |
|
|
(b) A facility or agency required to make a report under |
|
|
Section 258A.003, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, is |
|
|
not required to make an annual report to the Department of State |
|
|
Health Services before March 1, 2017. The Department of State |
|
|
Health Services shall set the date of the initial report for not |
|
|
later than March 1, 2018, and may set the date of the initial report |
|
|
to coordinate with other reports as provided by Section |
|
|
258A.003(c), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act. |
|
|
(c) The health professions resource center is not required |
|
|
to prepare the initial annual report under Section 258A.004(b), |
|
|
Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, before the 120th day |
|
|
after the date the center receives access to the relevant data. |
|
|
SECTION 3. 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, 2015. |