Honorable Myra Crownover, Chair, House Committee on Public Health
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2082 by Laubenberg (Relating to developing a pilot program to provide telemedicine medical services to certain children.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill requires the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to conduct a pilot program in Dallas, Tarrant, and Travis counties; and the Northeast Texas and Central Texas Medicaid Rural Service Area Region to provide telemedicine medical services for certain children in their residences. A child would be eligible for inclusion in the pilot if they are recipients of medical assistance and have been diagnosed with an end-state solid organ disease or a condition that requires mechanical ventilation, that the child be technology-dependent, or that the child be treated by three or more specialists.
The telemedicine medical services would be provided by a pediatric subspecialist who previously treated the child in person and has clinical privileges at a tertiary pediatric health care system associated with an academic medical center. Also, these services should not replace those the child is otherwise receiving. HHSC would be required to submit a report to the legislature on the outcome of the pilot no later than January 1, 2019. The bill leaves discretion as to the size, duration, and design of the pilot to the agency. Given that telemedicine services could offset the cost of other services, such as non-emergency medical transportation, it is assumed HHSC could develop a pilot program that could be executed within existing resources.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
529 Health and Human Services Commission, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration