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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
HOUSE BILL 1523 By: Lowe (Dick)
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to student mental health; mandating
the State Department of Education to create a school -
based telehealth pilot program; requiring the
Department to contract with a telehealth provider;
requiring a request for proposal; providing
definitions; specifying proposal requirements;
prescribing contract requirements; stating school
district participation requirements and limit ations;
providing fund limitations; requiring the Department
and participating school districts to evaluate the
program; requiring reporting to the Legislature;
mandating school districts to report compliance with
certain provisions; requiring the Departme nt to seek
funding; limiting expenditures; providing for
codification; providing an effective date; and
declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 24-162 of Title 70, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. The State Department of Education ("Department") shall
establish a school-based telehealth pilot program. The Department
shall contract with a single telehealth provider to provide mental
health care to students enrolled in participating school districts.
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The Department shall issue a request for proposals to select the
telehealth provider.
B. For purposes of this section:
1. "Mental health care provider " means any person or other
entity who is licensed pursuant to the provisions of Title 59 or
Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or pursuant to the laws of
another state, to render mental health care services in t he practice
of a profession or in the ordinary course of business;
2. "Health carrier" means an entity subject to the insurance
laws and regulations of this state, or subject to the jurisdiction
of the Insurance Commissioner, that contracts or offers to c ontract
to provide, deliver, arrange for, pay for or reimburse any of the
costs of health care services including through a health benefit
plan as defined in this section, and shall include a sickness and
accident insurance company, a health maintenance or ganization, a
preferred provider organization or any similar entity, or any other
entity providing a plan of health insurance or health benefits;
3. "Oklahoma health care programs " means state-purchased health
care or state-subsidized health care purchase d with or supported by
state and federal funds through the Oklahoma Health Car e Authority,
the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the
State Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, the
Department of Corrections, the De partment of Veterans Affairs, other
state agencies administering state -purchased or state-subsidized
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health care programs, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher
Education, the State Board of Education, and local school districts ;
4. "School district" or "district" has the same meaning as
provide for in Section 1 -108 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes ;
5. "Telehealth" means technology-enabled mental health and care
management and delivery systems that extend capacity and access,
which includes:
a. synchronous mechanisms, which may include live
audiovisual interaction between a patient and a mental
health care professional,
b. asynchronous mechanisms, which include store and
forward transfers, online exchange of mental health
information between a patient and a mental health care
professional, but shall not include the use of
automated text messages or automated mobile
applications that serve as the sole interaction
between a patient and a mental health care
professional,
c. remote patient monitoring, and
d. other electronic means that support clinical mental
health care, professional consultation, mental health -
related education, and mental health care
administration.
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6. "Telehealth provider" means a person that makes available a
technological platform for the provision of mental health care
services through telehealth and employs t he mental health care
providers who utilize the platform.
C. The Department shall consider responses to the request for
proposals only from applicants that:
1. Have experience providing mental health care through
telehealth in educational settings, and at the time of application
are providing access to mental health care through telehealth to at
least one school district with a student population of fifty
thousand (50,000) or more students;
2. Have experience in providing culturally competent pediatric
mental health care;
3. Demonstrate the ability to provide high -quality mental
health services and care coordination through telehealth;
4. Demonstrate the ability to employ an a dequate number of
Oklahoma-licensed mental health care providers to meet the market
demand for services under the program;
5. Have a technology platform for the provision and
coordination of mental health care services that will be made
available to participating school districts;
6. Can bill health carriers and the State Departme nt of
Education for provided services, including services provided to
individuals enrolled in Oklahoma health care programs; and
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7. Agree to provide mental health care services delivered
through telehealth free of charge to students who are uninsured, and
to waive or reimburse students for all cost -sharing incurred for
mental health care services received through the program.
D. The Department shall ensure that the contact betwe en the
Department and the selected telehealth provider requires the
telehealth provider to:
1. Provide mental health care services delivered through
telehealth free of charge to students who are uninsured;
2. Treat as if uninsured any minor who gives eff ective consent
to mental health treatment and who would otherwise be subject to
Section 2603 of Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes ;
3. Waive or reimburse students or their families for all cost -
sharing incurred for mental health care services received thro ugh
the program;
4. Provide the equipment, the telehealth platform, and acces s
to the mental health care providers employed by the telehealth
provider at no cost to the school district; and
5. Allow any school district to elect to participate in the
program by entering into a contract with the telehealth provider.
E. 1. School districts electing to participate in the pilot
program shall:
a. be party to a valid contract with the selected
telehealth provider,
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b. provide mental health care services through the
program at no cost to all students enrolled in the
district, and
c. cooperate with the Department and telehealth provider
to fulfill any reporting requirements under this
section.
2. School districts participating in the pilot program shall
not use the mental health care services made available under this
section to supplant the daily student support provided in the school
by educational student service providers, including but not limited
to licensed school nurses, educational psychologists, school so cial
workers, and school counselors.
F. Funds acquired or encumbered for the school-based telehealth
pilot program as described in this section shall only be used for
the following purposes:
1. To pay the telehealth provider an annual capitation rate of
up to Twenty-two Dollars ($22.00) per student enrolled in a
participating school district;
2. To reimburse the telehealth provider for the one -time fixed
costs for establishing the school -based telehealth pilot program;
and
3. To evaluate the pilot program.
G. 1. The Department, in cooperation with participating school
districts, shall evaluate the extent to which the pilot program
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increases student access to mental health care services. By January
15, 2027, the Department shall report the results of t he evaluation
to the legislative committees with jurisdiction over education
finance and policy and health finance and policy.
2. School districts shall provide the Department with
information the Department deems necessary to monitor the districts '
compliance with paragraph 2 of subsection E of this section. The
Department shall include in the Department 's report to the
Legislature the Department 's conclusions regarding any evidence that
participating school districts are violating paragraph 2 of
subsection E of this section.
H. The Department shall seek funding from sources as may be
available and authorized in order to implement the provisions of
this section. The Department shall not expend an amount in excess
of the total funds acquired by the Depar tment pursuant to the
provisions of this subsection.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 2025.
SECTION 3. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergen cy is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
60-1-10345 SW 01/12/25