86R10991 JG-D
By: Johnson S.B. No. 916
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to supportive palliative care.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subtitle G, Title 2, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 142A to read as follows:
CHAPTER 142A. SUPPORTIVE PALLIATIVE CARE SERVICES
Sec. 142A.0001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "supportive
palliative care" means patient- and family-centered care provided
without regard to a patient's age or terminal prognosis that:
(1) does not require the patient to decline methods of
treatment or therapies that cure or minimize the effects of the
patient's illness; and
(2) optimizes the quality of life for a patient with a
life-threatening or limiting illness and the patient's family by:
(A) anticipating, preventing, and treating the
patient's pain related to the patient's physical, psychosocial,
social, and spiritual condition;
(B) addressing the physical, intellectual,
emotional, cultural, social, and spiritual needs of the patient;
(C) facilitating patient autonomy; and
(D) ensuring the patient receives relevant
information regarding treatment to enable the patient to provide
informed consent.
Sec. 142A.0002. RULES AND MINIMUM STANDARDS. The executive
commissioner, in collaboration with health care providers
providing supportive palliative care services and other interested
persons, shall adopt rules establishing minimum standards for the
scope and delivery of supportive palliative care services,
including rules that:
(1) distinguish supportive palliative care services
from hospice services provided under Chapter 142; and
(2) coordinate and align the delivery of supportive
palliative care services in various health care settings.
Sec. 142A.0003. PILOT PROGRAM. (a) The executive
commissioner by rule may develop and implement a limited pilot
program in one or more geographic areas of this state to coordinate
the delivery of supportive palliative care services to vulnerable
individuals with serious illnesses, as defined by rule by the
executive commissioner.
(b) If the executive commissioner develops and implements a
pilot program under this section, the executive commissioner shall,
not later than the first anniversary of the date the pilot program
expires, prepare and submit to the governor, lieutenant governor,
and legislature a written report that summarizes the outcomes of
the pilot program.
(c) This section expires September 1, 2025.
SECTION 2. Section 142.001(15), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(15) "Hospice services" means services, including
services provided by unlicensed personnel under the delegation of a
registered nurse or physical therapist, provided to a client or a
client's family as part of a coordinated program consistent with
the standards and rules adopted under this chapter. These services
include palliative care other than supportive palliative care, as
defined by Section 142A.0001, for terminally ill clients and
support services for clients and their families that:
(A) are available 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, during the last stages of illness, during death, and during
bereavement;
(B) are provided by a medically directed
interdisciplinary team; and
(C) may be provided in a home, nursing home,
residential unit, or inpatient unit according to need. These
services do not include inpatient care normally provided in a
licensed hospital to a terminally ill person who has not elected to
be a hospice client.
SECTION 3. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission shall adopt the rules and minimum standards
required by Chapter 142A, Health and Safety Code, as added by this
Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.