Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB302 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	81R2459 KLA-D
2	2	By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 302
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the implementation of an in-home caregiver
8	8	demonstration project under the Medicaid program.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 32, Human Resources Code,
11	11	is amended by adding Section 32.074 to read as follows:
12	12	Sec. 32.074. IN-HOME CAREGIVER DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. (a)
13	13	In this section:
14	14	(1) "Activity of daily living" means an activity in
15	15	which a person engages to care for the person's physical health or
16	16	manage the person's financial affairs. The term includes bathing
17	17	and other activities necessary to maintain personal hygiene,
18	18	dressing, preparing meals, eating, using a telephone, managing
19	19	money or medication, and obtaining or accessing transportation.
20	20	(2) "Executive commissioner" means the executive
21	21	commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission.
22	22	(3) "Homemaker service" means a home-based service
23	23	that assists in maintaining a person's home as a safe and healthy
24	24	environment. The term includes cleaning, laundry services, and
25	25	other household maintenance services.
26	26	(b) The department, through rules adopted by the executive
27	27	commissioner, shall develop and implement a medical assistance
28	28	in-home caregiver demonstration project authorized under Section
29	29	1115 of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1315).
30	30	The project must be designed to allow a medical assistance
31	31	recipient who would otherwise receive medical assistance through a
32	32	nursing facility to receive homemaker services and assistance with
33	33	activities of daily living that:
34	34	(1) are provided by an in-home caregiver who is
35	35	selected by the recipient and paid an hourly wage through the
36	36	medical assistance program; and
37	37	(2) enable the recipient to live in the recipient's
38	38	home in the community instead of living in the nursing facility.
39	39	(c) The rules adopted under this section for the in-home
40	40	caregiver demonstration project must:
41	41	(1) establish eligibility criteria and an application
42	42	process for participation in the project;
43	43	(2) prescribe the hourly wage to be paid to an in-home
44	44	caregiver and the maximum number of hours per day for which the
45	45	caregiver may receive that payment;
46	46	(3) prescribe any training or other requirements for a
47	47	person who wishes to act as an in-home caregiver; and
48	48	(4) specify the process by which an in-home caregiver
49	49	may establish the number of hours of services and assistance
50	50	provided to a medical assistance recipient and receive payment for
51	51	those hours.
52	52	(d) Subject to Subsection (c)(3), the rules adopted under
53	53	Subsection (c) must permit a medical assistance recipient
54	54	participating in the in-home caregiver demonstration project to
55	55	select any person, including a family or household member or a
56	56	neighbor, as the recipient's in-home caregiver.
57	57	(e) In adopting rules under Subsection (c)(2), the
58	58	executive commissioner shall ensure that the maximum daily amount
59	59	that may be paid to an in-home caregiver providing services and
60	60	assistance to a medical assistance recipient does not exceed the
61	61	maximum daily reimbursement rate that would be paid to a nursing
62	62	facility if the recipient received medical assistance in that
63	63	facility.
64	64	(f) The department shall inform an applicant for or
65	65	recipient of medical assistance provided by a nursing facility of
66	66	the availability of services and assistance through the in-home
67	67	caregiver demonstration project. The department shall provide the
68	68	information before the person is admitted to a nursing facility or
69	69	as soon as possible after admission.
70	70	SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
71	71	of this Act, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
72	72	Services Commission shall apply for and actively pursue a waiver
73	73	under Section 1115 of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
74	74	Section 1315) to the state Medicaid plan from the federal Centers
75	75	for Medicare and Medicaid Services or any other federal agency to
76	76	implement Section 32.074, Human Resources Code, as added by this
77	77	Act. The commission and any health and human services agency, as
78	78	defined by Section 531.001, Government Code, operating part of the
79	79	Medicaid program may delay implementing Section 32.074, Human
80	80	Resources Code, as added by this Act, until the waiver applied for
81	81	under this section is granted.
82	82	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
83	83	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
84	84	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
85	85	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
86	86	Act takes effect September 1, 2009.