HBA-NIK, PDH H.B. 1489 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1489 By: Maxey Corrections 3/3/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Qualified health professionals often are not accessible to citizens of some urban and most rural areas of Texas. Additionally, the provision of medical care in a correctional setting may be affected by security concerns. Telemedicine holds promise for addressing the needs of all of these populations. Telemedicine refers to a professional providing interactive, long distance services to a consumer in another location. In 1997, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and Texas Tech University Health and Science Center (TTUHS) conducted 3,382 inmate medical consultations. This is fewer than 10 percent of inmate specialty appointments. According to experts at UTMB and TTUHSC, as much as 60 to 80 percent of offsite medical consultations could be accomplished by telemedicine. H.B. 1489 creates a task force to develop a statewide telemedicine plan to expand the use of telemedicine within the prison system and authorizes the use of correctional telemedicine resources to assist in the implementation of telemedicine in rural areas. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 501.059(k), Government Code, to require the Correctional Managed Health Care Advisory Committee (committee) to report, by October 31 of each year, to the governor, the comptroller, the state auditor, and the legislative budget board regarding any amounts received in the previous fiscal year in excess of costs incurred in the previous fiscal year in providing health care services under the managed health care plan. Requires the committee to deposit half of the excess amounts received to the general revenue fund. SECTION 2. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 501, Government Code, by adding Section 501.0591, as follows: Sec. 501.0591. USE OF TELEMEDICINE AND TELEMEDICINE RESOURCES. (a) Requires the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center (medical centers), in conjunction with the committee, to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for expanding the use of telemedicine within the prison system. Provides that the plan must include measures designed to reduce inmate transportation and health care costs. (b) Authorizes the medical centers to use correctional telemedicine resources for rural health care initiatives and for purposes of rural health care education. Authorizes the Center for Rural Health Initiatives to assist the committee and the medical centers in coordinating a statewide effort to link rural communities with health education centers through correctional telemedicine resources. (c) Requires the committee and any ad hoc committee of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that deals with transportation issues to report to the 77th Legislature regarding the progress made in expanding the use of telemedicine in providing inmate health care services and reducing inmate transportation and health care services. Specifies the contents of the report. Requires the legislature to consider dedicating any savings realized through expanding the use of telemedicine for purposes of further expanding the use of telemedicine to provide inmate health care services. Provides an expiration date for this subsection of September 1, 2001. SECTION 3. Requires the committee to annually deposit amounts received to the general revenue fund as required by Section 501.059(k), Government Code, beginning not later than October 31, 2000. Requires the medical centers, in conjunction with the committee, to develop and begin implementation of the comprehensive plan required by Section 501.0591(a), Government Code, not later than January 1, 2000. SECTION 4.Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 5.Emergency clause.