By: Zaffirini, Rodriguez S.B. No. 421
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Texas System of Care and the development of local
mental health systems of care for certain children.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter G-1, Chapter 531,
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER G-1. DEVELOPING LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH [CARE] SYSTEMS OF
CARE FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN
SECTION 2. Section 531.251, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 531.251. TEXAS SYSTEM OF CARE [PILOT PROJECT]
CONSORTIUM[; EXPANSION PLAN]. (a) The commission shall form a
consortium to have responsibility [develop criteria] for and
oversight over a state system of care [implement the expansion of
the Texas Integrated Funding Initiative pilot project and] to
develop local mental health systems of care [systems] in
communities for minors who are receiving residential mental health
services or inpatient mental health hospitalization or who are at
risk of being removed from the minor's home and placed in a more
restrictive environment to receive mental health services,
including an inpatient mental health hospital, a residential
treatment facility, or a facility or program operated by the
Department of Family and Protective Services or an agency that is
part of the juvenile justice system [placement to receive mental
health services].
(a-1) The consortium must include:
(1) representatives of the [Texas] Department of State
[Mental] Health Services [and Mental Retardation], Department of
Family and Protective [and Regulatory] Services, Health and Human
Services Commission's Medicaid program, Texas Education Agency,
[Texas Youth Commission,] Texas Juvenile Justice Department
[Probation Commission], and Texas Correctional Office on Offenders
with Medical or Mental Impairments;
(2) one youth or young adult who has a serious
emotional disturbance and has received mental health services and
supports; or
(3) a family member of a youth or young adult described
by Subdivision (2) [Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and an
equal number of family advocates].
(a-2) The consortium may coordinate with the Children's
Policy Council for the purposes of including the representation
required by Subsections (a-1)(2) and (3).
(b) The commission and the consortium shall:
(1) maintain [develop] a comprehensive plan [model and
guidelines] for the delivery of mental health services and supports
[support] to a minor and a minor's family using a system of care
framework[, initiated before the person's 18th birthday],
including best practices in the financing, administration,
governance, and delivery of those services;
(2) implement strategies [establish a plan] to expand
the use of system of care practices [Texas Integrated Funding
Initiative so that the initiative may operate] in the planning and
delivery of services throughout the state [up to six communities];
[and]
(3) identify appropriate local, [sources of] state,
and federal funding sources to finance infrastructure and mental
health services needed to support state and local system of care
efforts; and
(4) develop an evaluation system to measure outcomes
of state and local system of care efforts [under the initiative from
a central fund for expansion communities].
(b-1) Not later than November 1 of each even-numbered year,
the consortium shall submit a report to the legislature and the
Council on Children and Families that contains an evaluation of the
outcomes of the Texas System of Care and recommendations on
strengthening state policies and practices that support local
systems of care, including recommendations relating to:
(1) methods to increase access to effective and
coordinated services and supports;
(2) methods to increase community capacity to
implement local systems of care through training and technical
assistance;
(3) use of cross-system performance and outcome data
to make informed decisions at individual and system levels; and
(4) strategies to maximize public and private funding
at the local, state, and federal levels.
SECTION 3. Section 531.255, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 531.255. EVALUATION. [(a)] The commission and the
[Texas] Department of State [Mental] Health Services [and Mental
Retardation] jointly shall monitor the progress of the grant
[expansion] communities, including monitoring cost avoidance and
the net savings that result from implementing a local system of
care.
[(b) The commission, the consortium, and the expansion
communities shall collaborate to develop a system to evaluate the
success of the expansion communities in achieving outcome goals for
the minors the communities serve, including outcome goals developed
under Section 531.252. An evaluation under the system must include
information on cost avoidance and net savings that result from
participation in the initiative.
[(c) Each expansion community shall identify the baseline
information to compare with the information on outcomes in
evaluating the achievements of the community. A community is
responsible for collecting and reporting outcome information to the
commission in accordance with the requirements of the evaluation
system developed under Subsection (b).
[(d) To the extent practicable, an expansion community
shall use instruments to measure outcomes that have known
reliability and validity and that allow comparisons with similar
projects in other states and with national evaluation efforts.]
SECTION 4. Section 531.257, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 531.257. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR GRANT PROJECTS. The
commission may provide technical assistance to a community that
receives a grant under Section 531.252 [531.256].
SECTION 5. Sections 531.253, 531.254, 531.256, and 531.258,
Government Code, are repealed.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.