FEATURED: Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, Chair, Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, is featured on the floor of the Texas Senate in 2023. Her committee has been assigned by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to study major topics relating to the following major health-related issues: Children’s Mental Health; Access to Health Care; Health Insurance; Cancer Prevention; COVID Vaccine Mandates; Five-Year Plan for Family Support Services; Nursing Education, Scholarships; Mental and Behavioral Health Programs; Background Checks on Certain State Employees; Medicaid Fraud; and Medicaid Managed Care. The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services will submit a report with its specific findings and policy recommendations to Patrick before December 1, 2024, according to DHR Health.

Photograph By SENATE MEDIA

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Cancer prevention, health insurance, and nursing-related postsecondary education and scholarships to be reviewed Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at the Texas Capitol by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, reports DHR Health

By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]

Cancer prevention, health insurance, and nursing-related postsecondary education and scholarships will be reviewed during a public hearing in Austin on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee – which includes Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-South Padre Island, as a member – according to DHR Health.

The names and backgrounds of the members of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services are available online at:

https://capitol.texas.gov/Committees/MembershipCmte.aspx?LegSess=88R&CmteCode=C610

DHR Health operates two general acute hospitals, the only dedicated women’s hospital south of San Antonio, a rehabilitation hospital, a behavioral hospital, and more than 70 clinics Valley-wide.

DHR Health offers the most comprehensive and sophisticated healthcare services in the Rio Grande Valley including – but not limited to – advanced cancer services, the only transplant program in the Rio Grande Valley, and as of September 8, 2021, the first 24/7 Designated Level One Trauma Center south of San Antonio.

The public gathering, which will feature invited speakers providing public testimony on those issues, begins at 10 a.m. It will take place in Room E1.012 (Hearing Room), which is located in the underground extension of the Texas Capitol Building in downtown Austin.

The list of invited speakers will be finalized a few days before the Tuesday, May 14, 2024 public hearing.

But members of the public who wish to provide testimony are encouraged to call Ryan Heare, Committee Clerk, Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, at 512/463-0360, to register to address the legislative panel.

Testimony by the general publicis limited to two minutes. In submitting written testimony, please provide 20 copies, with your name on each copy, to the committee during the hearing.

Any member of the public who wishes to sit in on the public hearing may do so without registering in advance.

The topics for review and discussion during the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services’ public hearing on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, are among 57 subjects – known as interim charges – issued on Thursday, April 11, 2024, by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for 13 Senate committees.

https://www.ltgov.texas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Interim-Legislative-Charges.pdf

“The 57 interim charges I released today (Thursday, April 11, 2024) reflect issues that Texans have asked us to study. Our 31 senators submitted hundreds of ideas, with many senators sharing similar proposals,” Patrick said. “My staff and I worked diligently for weeks to review each request, and this is the first set of interim charges I am releasing in preparation for the 89th Legislature. We may release a second shorter list of additional charges before next session.”

The 89th Texas Legislature will return to work for its five-month regular session in early January 2025 and ends at the end of May, 2025.

The Senate’s work to study the list of Patrick’s 57 interim charges will begin in the coming weeks and months.

Following completion of hearings – whose meeting dates and locations will be announced at later dates – those Senate committees will submit reports with their specific findings and policy recommendations before December 1, 2024.

“I thank the entire Texas Senate for their dedication and hard work, and I look forward to reviewing the committees’ recommendations,” Patrick said. “Come January 2025, the Senate will hit the ground running at the start of the 89th Legislative Session. The priorities of the conservative majority of Texans will be accomplished, including school choice, continued property tax relief, and strengthening the power grid.”

A summary of the interim charges to be deliberated by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services follows:

• Cancer Prevention

Identify and recommend ways to address the growing impact of cancer on Texans by evaluating state investments in cancer prevention and screenings including, but not limited to, “CT,” “MRI, and “PET” scans. Study and make recommendations on funding adequacy for prevention efforts at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

• Health Insurance

Examine the Texas health insurance market and alternatives to employer-based insurance. Identify barriers Texans face when navigating a complex health insurance market. Make recommendations that help individuals obtain health care coverage.

• Monitoring

Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services passed by the 88th Legislature, as well as relevant agencies and programs under the committee’s jurisdiction. Specifically, make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, or complete implementation of the following:

•• Senate Bill 25, relating to support for nursing-related postsecondary education, including scholarships to nursing students, loan repayment assistance to nurses and nursing faculty, and grants to nursing education programs.

WHAT ARE INTERIM CHARGES?

The Texas Council on Development Disabilities provides an easy-to-understand explanation about interim charges and how any person can participate in the legislative committees studying these issues.

That information follows:

The Texas Legislature meets in regular session for 140 days every two years. In Capitol jargon, the word “interim” refers to the time frame between these regular sessions.

Lawmakers typically spend the interim conducting oversight of state agencies, reviewing the implementation of new laws, and investigating new areas of concern. These tasks are largely guided by what are known as “interim charges.” As defined by the Texas Legislative Council, an interim charge is “a directive to study a certain issue during the interim that is issued by the Lieutenant Governor to a senate committee or by the Speaker of the House to a House committee.”

Lawmakers, advocates, and stakeholders commonly submit interim charge recommendations hoping to influence what ends up on each chamber’s batch of directives. Once interim charges have been distributed, committees will meet, take input, study the assigned topics, and produce a report based on their findings.

This report may then result in legislation to be considered in the next regular session.

WHAT SHOULD TEXANS DO NOW?

Interested Texans should review the full set of interim charges, including those listed in the next section, and determine if there are any of interest. If so, they should consider reaching out to their lawmakers and providing feedback on the topic, especially if their representative is on the committee looking into that issue. Advocates might also want to provide testimony on the matter to a committee at a public hearing. To find out who represents you in the House or Senate, go to the Who Represents Me page on the Capitol website. The site can also be used to find committee membership for the House and Senate, and to sign up to re ceive alerts when committee hearings are scheduled.

For definitions of terms used in describing the legislative process, click the following Internet link:

https://tlc.texas.gov/docs/legref/Glossary.pdf

MORE DETAILS ON 13 INTERIM CHARGES FOR SENATE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

Children’s Mental Health

Review care and services currently available to the growing population of Texas children with high acuity mental and behavioral health needs. Make recommendations to improve access to care and services for these children that will support family preservation and prevent them from entering the child welfare system.

Access to Health Care

Evaluate current access to primary and mental health care. Examine whether regulatory and licensing flexibilities could improve access to care, particularly in medically underserved areas of Texas. Make recommendations, if any, to improve access to care while maintaining patient safety.

Health Insurance

Cancer Prevention

Study and make recommendations on funding adequacy for prevention efforts at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

Monitoring

COVID Vaccine Mandates

• Senate Bill 7, Third Called Special Session, by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston – effective on Friday, November 10, 2023 – relating to prohibiting a private employer from adopting or enforcing certain COVID-19 vaccine mandates; authorizing an administrative penalty.

Rep. Janie López, R-San Benito, served as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 7.

Senate Bill 7 changed language in the Health and Safety Code to prohibit a private employer from doing the following:

•• Adopting or enforcing a mandate requiring an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment or a contract position; or

•• Taking an adverse action against an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position for a refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Senate Bill 7 excepted (did not include) from the prohibition against taking such an adverse action a health care facility, health care provider, or physician that establishes and enforces a reasonable policy that includes requiring the use of protective medical equipment by an individual who is an employee or contractor of the facility, provider, or physician and who is not vaccinated against COVID-19 based on the level of risk the individual presents to patients from the individual’s routine and direct exposure to patients.

Senate Bill 7 established a process by which an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position against whom an employer took an adverse action in violation of the bill’s provisions may file a complaint with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).

Additionally, Senate Bill 7 provided for the following:
•• A requirement that TWC conduct an investigation of such a complaint;

•• TWC’s authority to request that the attorney general bring an action for injunctive relief against the employer; and

•• The imposition of a $50,000 administrative penalty on an employer for each violation of Senate Bill 7, unless the employer takes certain corrective action.For a comprehensive background on Senate Bill 7 – including history, text, actions, companions (similar legislation), amendments, authors, sponsors, captions, and bill stages – click the following Internet link:

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=883&Bill=SB7

Five-Year Plan for Family Support Services

• Senate Bill 24, by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham – effective on Friday, September 1, 2023 – relating to the powers and duties of the Health and Human Services Commission and the transfer to the commission of certain powers and duties from the Department of Family and Protective Services.

Rep. López served as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 24.

Senate Bill 24 changed language in the Code of Criminal Procedure, Family Code, Government Code, Health and Safety Code, Human Resources Code, and Local Government Code to transfer programs and services provided through the prevention and early intervention division of the Department of Family and Protective Services to the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and to consolidate them under a new family support services division.

Senate Bill 24 made certain changes to the programs and provides for HHSC’s development and implementation of a five?year strategic plan for family support services. Senate Bill 24 also provided for the establishment of the Thriving Texas Families Program as the continuation of the previous HHSC alternatives to abortion (A2A) program. For detailed background on Senate Bill 24 – including history, text, actions, companions, amendments, authors, sponsors, captions, and bill stages – click the following Internet link:

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB24#

Nursing Education, Scholarships

• Senate Bill 25, by Sen. Kolkhorst – effective onFriday, September 1, 2023 – relating to support for nursing-related postsecondary education, including scholarships to nursing students, loan repayment assistance to nurses and nursing faculty, and grants to nursing education programs.

Sen. Hinojosa, Sen. LaMantia, and Sen. Zaffirini, served as authors of Senate Bill 25.

Senate Bill 25 changed language in the Education Code to set out and revise provisions relating to support for nursing-related postsecondary education.

Senate Bill 25 did the following:

•• Revived and amended a scholarship program for nursing students and a loan repayment program for nurses;

•• Made part time nursing faculty eligible for assistance under the nursing faculty loan repayment assistance program and changed the cap on the amount of such assistance received in any one year from a set amount to an amount determined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB);

•• Established certain grant programs to support nursing faculty at clinical sites and the clinical training of nursing students;

•• Eliminated requirements for the THECB to establish and administer a matching fund program and to appoint certain advisory committees; and •• Extended the nursing innovation grant program until 2027.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB25#

Mental and Behavioral Health Programs

• Senate Bill 26, by Sen. Kolkhorst – effective Friday, September 1, 2023 – relating to local mental health authority and local behavioral health authority audits and mental and behavioral health reporting, services, and programs. Sen. Hinojosa, Sen. Morgan LaMantia, D-South Padre Island, and Sen. Zaffirini are authors of Senate Bill 26.

Senate Bill 26 made changes to the Government Code and Health and Safety Code to set out provisions relating to the creation of a matching grant program for mental health early intervention and treatment, the voluntary admission of individuals to an inpatient mental health facility, plans for the transition of care for certain individuals, and performance and financial audits of local behavioral health authorities and local mental health authorities and other reporting requirements. Senate Bill 26 also made changes to the Education Code to authorize a local mental health authority that is unable to employ a qualified non-physician mental health professional to request a waiver from the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission for approval to employ instead certain other licensed professionals to serve as a resource for an applicable regional education service center and local public school districts.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB26

Background Checks on Certain State Employees

Senate Bill 1849, by Sen. Kolkhorst – effective on Friday, 1, 2023 – relating to an interagency reportable conduct search engine, standards for a person’s removal from the employee misconduct registry and eligibility for certification as certain Texas Juvenile Justice Department officers and employees, and the use of certain information by certain state agencies to conduct background checks. Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo/Starr County, served as a coauthor of Senate Bill 1849.

Senate Bill 1849 changed language in the Health and Safety Code to require the Department of Information Resources to establish an interagency reportable conduct search engine for persons to search information on reportable conduct maintained by the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), the Texas Education Agency, and the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) in certain registries and other resources. Senate Bill 1849 set out provisions relating to the search engine’s content and the use of the search engine by the participating state agencies and other applicable entities to conduct background checks of individuals in education, long term care, child care, or juvenile justice settings, including employees, volunteers, contractors, and license or certification holders.

Senate Bill 1849 established the Office of Interagency Coordination on Reportable Conduct within DFPS to facilitate coordination and communication relating to the use of the search engine.

Senate Bill 1849 authorized the executive commissioner of HHSC to adopt rules establishing criteria for a person to submit a request for removal from the employee misconduct registry and a process to determine whether the person meets the requirements for inclusion in the registry. Senate Bill 1849 changed language in the Education Code to entitle certain persons identified through the search engine as having engaged in misconduct making them ineligible for employment in public schools to due process in the same manner as a person who is the subject of a report alleging such misconduct.

Senate Bill 1849 changed language in the Human Resources Code to expand the list of resources that DFPS must use to conduct background and criminal history checks in connection with entities providing child care services to include both the search engine and any information provided by TJJDD under a memorandum of understanding.

Senate Bill 1849 also established a process through which TJJD may designate an individual who has been terminated from employment with TJJD as permanently ineligible for certification.

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1849

Medicaid Fraud

Initiatives to reduce Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse, as well as other cost containment strategies.

Medicaid provides health coverage to millions of Americans, including eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. Medicaid is administered by states, according to federal requirements. The program is funded jointly by states and the federal government.

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/index.html

Medicaid fraud is the intentional providing of false information to get Medicaid to pay for medical care or services. Medical identity theft is one type of fraud. It involves using another person’s medical card or information to get health care goods, services, or funds.

https://www.cms.gov/medicare-medicaid-coordination/fraud-prevention/medicaid-integrity-education/downloads/infograph-there-are-many-types-medicaid-fraud-%5Bmay-2016%5D.pdf

Medicaid Managed Care

Medicaid managed care oversight and accountability.

Medicaid managed care is administered by managed care organizations (MCOs) and dental maintenance organizations that are contracted by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to provide services for Medicaid managed care clients.

The Medicaid managed care MCOs and DMOs provide most of the same benefits that Texas Medicaid provided for for fee-for-service clients.

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/managed-care/index.html

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