81R4300 SJM-D
By: Bohac H.B. No. 1426
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a pilot program in certain
counties to require health and human services providers to provide
screening to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) In this section:
(1) "Center for Health Statistics" means the Center
for Health Statistics of the Department of State Health Services.
(2) "Health and human services provider" means a
health care provider that receives public money from a program
under Title IV, Title V, Title XIX, or Title XX, Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. Section 301 et seq.), and that provides health and human
services to women in the counties in which the pilot program is
conducted under this section. The term includes:
(A) a primary health care provider;
(B) an obstetrical or gynecological service
provider;
(C) a prenatal and family planning service
provider;
(D) a family protective service program
provider; and
(E) a clinic for women, infants, and children.
(b) The Office for the Prevention of Developmental
Disabilities, Department of State Health Services, and Department
of Family and Protective Services shall establish a pilot program
to:
(1) support public and private efforts to identify
women who are at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy through the
creation of a network of health and human services providers that
screen women of childbearing age for alcohol consumption; and
(2) provide alcohol education to women between the
ages of 18 and 44 years.
(c) The pilot program shall be conducted in three urban
counties. Each county must:
(1) have a population of more than one million; and
(2) have documented a high percentage of women who
engage in frequent consumption of alcoholic beverages.
(d) In the counties in which the pilot program is conducted
under this section, the Office for the Prevention of Developmental
Disabilities, Department of State Health Services, and Department
of Family and Protective Services shall:
(1) develop an action plan to require each health and
human services provider to:
(A) screen for alcohol consumption by women
between the ages of 18 and 44 years who are receiving services from
the provider; and
(B) provide data on the results of the screening
conducted under Paragraph (A) of this subdivision to the Department
of State Health Services;
(2) adopt rules that:
(A) establish minimum standards for screening
women for alcohol consumption in health and human services programs
and for reporting the screening data to the Center for Health
Statistics;
(B) require a health and human services provider
that is licensed in this state and that treats children or treats
women of childbearing age to document in each child's or woman's
medical record any known substance abuse or any alcohol consumption
that exceeds more than four drinks on one occasion by the woman or
by the child's mother during the mother's pregnancy with the child;
(C) establish minimum standards for:
(i) treating women who are pregnant or at
risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy and who are enrolled in a
chemical dependency treatment program; and
(ii) reporting the treatment data to the
Center for Health Statistics;
(D) give the highest priority for access to
chemical dependency treatment to women who are at risk for an
alcohol-exposed pregnancy; and
(E) require the dissemination of information on
the prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders to all women of
childbearing age receiving services from a health and human
services provider;
(3) train, under a written training protocol:
(A) physicians, physician assistants, nurses,
caseworkers, and family protective services workers to administer
an alcohol consumption screening tool and to report the data
collected to the Center for Health Statistics; and
(B) counselors to administer a brief fetal
alcohol spectrum disorders intervention to women of childbearing
age who are enrolled in chemical dependency treatment;
(4) analyze:
(A) the screening data reported by health and
human services providers to the Center for Health Statistics; and
(B) the intervention data of women enrolled in
treatment reported by health and human services providers to the
Center for Health Statistics;
(5) determine, from the data analyzed under
Subdivision (4) of this subsection, the number of women who may be
at risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy; and
(6) disseminate information on the prevention of fetal
alcohol spectrum disorders to all women of childbearing age
receiving services from a health and human services provider.
(e) The Office for the Prevention of Developmental
Disabilities, Department of State Health Services, and Department
of Family and Protective Services shall report the findings of the
pilot program conducted under this section to the legislature not
later than December 1, 2011.
(f) This section expires January 1, 2013.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.