86R22353 KFF-D
By: González of El Paso, Frank, Klick, H.B. No. 1585
Swanson
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1585:
By: Hinojosa C.S.H.B. No. 1585
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a study on interest or other waiting lists maintained
for certain Medicaid programs providing services to persons with an
intellectual or developmental disability.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Health and Human Services Commission,
in consultation and collaboration with the Intellectual and
Developmental Disability System Redesign Advisory Committee
established under Section 534.053, Government Code, shall conduct a
study examining the interest or other waiting lists maintained for
the following Medicaid programs authorized under Section 1115 or
1915(c) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1315
or 1396n(c)) that provide services to persons with an intellectual
or developmental disability:
(1) the community living assistance and support
services (CLASS) waiver program;
(2) the home and community-based services (HCS) waiver
program;
(3) the deaf-blind with multiple disabilities (DBMD)
waiver program;
(4) the Texas home living (TxHmL) waiver program;
(5) the medically dependent children (MDCP) waiver
program; and
(6) the STAR+PLUS home and community-based services
(HCBS) program.
(b) In conducting the study under this section, the Health
and Human Services Commission shall, for each Medicaid program
described by Subsection (a) of this section:
(1) consider and analyze:
(A) the experiences of other states in reducing
or eliminating interest or other waiting lists, including through
the range of services available to persons with an intellectual or
developmental disability in each state;
(B) factors affecting the historical experience
of each Medicaid program and the program's interest or waiting list
during the five most recent state fiscal biennia, including:
(i) the amount of appropriated money
allocated to each program during each state fiscal year; and
(ii) significant policy changes impacting
each program and the program's interest or other waiting list;
(C) existing data relating to persons on an
interest or other waiting list, including demographic data and data
relating to each person's living arrangement, service preferences,
length of time on the list, and unmet support needs; and
(D) the urgency of the need for services of
persons on an interest or other waiting list at any given time,
including the extent to which the list is comprised of persons who:
(i) join the list before becoming eligible
for services under the associated Medicaid program; or
(ii) were eligible for services under the
associated Medicaid program at the time of joining the list but who
are no longer eligible for services under the program; and
(2) identify:
(A) additional strategies that the commission
could employ to eliminate the interest or other waiting lists in a
manner that results in the provision of person-centered services in
the most integrated setting, including strategies employed by other
states and strategies through which this state could receive
additional federal funding, and the estimated costs of implementing
those strategies; and
(B) a date by which the commission believes it
could eliminate the interest or other waiting lists if the
identified strategies were implemented.
(c) Not later than September 1, 2020, the Health and Human
Services Commission shall submit to the legislature a written
report containing the findings of the study conducted under this
Act and the commission's recommendations for:
(1) improving service delivery and reducing interest
and other waiting lists for Medicaid programs described under
Subsection (a) of this section, including recommendations for
potential legislation; and
(2) a methodology the commission should implement that
would prioritize persons on a list who have more urgent needs for
program services.
(d) Based on the Health and Human Services Commission's
findings of the study conducted under this Act, the commission
shall update its statewide strategic plan on the intellectual and
developmental disabilities system in this state that was developed
in relation to the statewide behavioral health strategic plan
required under Section 10.04 of the Article IX health-related
provisions, Chapter 1281 (H.B. 1), Acts of the 84th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2015 (the General Appropriations Act), including
updating related short- and long-term goals, objectives, and
strategies to address identified gaps in services for persons with
an intellectual or developmental disability, timelines for
implementation of the plan, and mechanisms for tracking plan
outcomes.
SECTION 2. This Act expires September 1, 2023.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.