2019S0340-1 03/05/19
By: Campbell S.B. No. 1657
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to level of care designations for rural hospitals that
provide maternal care.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter H, Chapter 241, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 241.1831 to read as follows:
Sec. 241.1831. LEVEL OF CARE DESIGNATIONS FOR MATERNAL CARE
IN RURAL HOSPITALS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Rural hospital" means a hospital that has fewer
than 50 beds and:
(A) is:
(i) designated by the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services as a critical access hospital, sole community
hospital, or rural referral center; and
(ii) not located in an area defined by the
federal Office of Management and Budget as a metropolitan
statistical area; or
(B) is located in a county with a population of
not more than 60,000.
(2) "Telemedicine medical service" has the meaning
assigned by Section 111.001, Occupations Code.
(b) A rural hospital must have available at all times for
consultation, either in person or as a telemedicine medical
service, a family medicine physician, an obstetrics and gynecology
physician, or a maternal fetal medicine physician who:
(1) for a rural hospital assigned a Level I level of
care designation:
(A) is licensed by the Texas Medical Board;
(B) has obstetrics training and experience; and
(C) has maternal care and obstetrical surgical
privileges; or
(2) for a rural hospital assigned a Level II level of
care designation:
(A) is licensed by the Texas Medical Board;
(B) has obstetrics training and experience;
(C) has maternal care and obstetrical surgical
privileges; and
(D) is available to provide medical services or
telemedicine medical services to a patient of the hospital not
later than 30 minutes after the time the hospital contacts the
physician.
(c) This section does not affect the authority of a
physician to delegate to a certified registered nurse anesthetist
under Section 157.058, Occupations Code.
(d) The department by rule shall establish a process by
which a rural hospital may appeal its level of care designation to
the department.
(e) Except as specifically provided by this section, a rural
hospital is subject to all other requirements for a level of care
designation under this chapter.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Department of State Health Services shall adopt
rules as necessary to implement Section 241.1831, Health and Safety
Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.