Print 🖨

The committee took up new and pending business. This report focuses only on the bills listed below.
 
 
Pending Business
 
HB 764 – Susan King, Relating to the use, collection, and security of health care data collected by the Department of State Health Services.

  • Reported favorably as substituted

 
HB 2271 – Sheffield, Relating to the prescription drug donation program.

  • Reported favorably as substituted

 
HB 2906 – Sarah Davis, Relating to certain diagnostic testing during pregnancy.

  • Reported favorably

 
HB 3366 – Relating to the reimbursement of prescription drugs under the Medicaid managed care and child health plan programs.

  • Reported favorably as substituted

 
SB 97 – Hinojosa, Relating to regulation of the sale, distribution, possession, use, and advertising of vapor products.

  • Committee substitute same as HB 170 substitute previously adopted
  • Reported favorably as substituted

 
HB 1409 – Thompson, Relating to the regulation of the practice of dental hygiene.

  • Misreported vote; motion to reconsider vote
  • Reported favorably

 
New Business
 
HB 3781 – Crownover, Relating to the creation of the Texas Health Improvement Network.

  • Committee sub laid out
  • Have done little to look at what is driving the high health care costs in Texas
  • Bill will establish THIN made up of academic and scientific institutions tasked with developing initiatives and translating research into best practices
  • Intended to reduce the cost of health care, improve the experience of health care

 
David Lakey, Vice Chancellor for Population Health, UT System

  • On the bill
  • Discussed what other states have been able to do with similar entities
  • Naishtat asked how many states have similar groups
    • At least 3

 
Bill left pending
 
HB 3974 – Darby, Relating to the expunction of the record of certain disciplinary actions against health care professionals.

  • Committee substitute laid out
  • Would allow a health care professional with a minor disciplinary action against them to have the action expunged from their record if there are no additional violations in five years
  • Sub clarifies that disciplinary actions where licenses were revoked and violations where a patient was harmed are not available for expunction

 
Cindy ­­___, Texas Nurses Association

  • On the bill
  • Want to ensure the option is in addition to other currently available options
  • Do not want certain expunctions completely ruled out

 
Darby closed

  • Trying not to affect current remediation options
  • Not the intent to close any current pathway available to boards just want another option

 
Bill left pending
 
HB 3677 – Workman, Relating to the authority of a peace officer to apprehend a person for emergency detention and the authority of certain facilities to temporarily detain a person with mental illness.

  • Committee substitute laid out
  • A narrowly tailored bill that adjusts emergency detention provisions
  • Allows inpatient mental health facility, hospital or emergency room or freestanding emergency facility to detain a person for a maximum of four hours who voluntarily comes into the hospital then wishes to leave and the physician believes there is an imminent threat of danger posed by the person to themselves or others
  • Governing body of facility may draft policy pertaining to the provisions of the bill; differs from original bill
  • Substitute also eliminates the requirement for notice of emergency detention
  • Substitute states that a facility is not civilly or criminally liable because of adopting or failing to adopt a policy pertaining to this legislation
  • Substitute states that emergency detention is not the same as involuntary psychiatric commitment

 
Robert Greenberg, Texas Medical Association

  • Support
  • Bill does not apply to minor mental health issues such as mild depression
  • Collier asked how four hours was determined
    • Was a compromise; more time would be better but four hours is better than nothing

 
Greg Hanch, National Alliance of Mental Health

  • Support
  • Great opportunity for the state to address untreated mental illness

 
Lee Spiller, Citizens Commission on Human Rights

  • Oppose
  • Concerned about people who are not dangerous being detained
  • People will either have to be in a locked room, with a sitter, or in four point restraints
  • There will be a cost to doing this
  • Sheffield asked if the state sufficiently funded mental health issues if this bill would be needed
    • The state can fix the problem without this bill by restricting forensic commitment statutes; people are in state hospitals that do not need to be

Witness

  • Support
  • The 4 hour detention could be a very useful tool in helping people
  • Bill could reduce pressure on local law enforcement agencies and could lead to better clinical outcomes for people

 
Robert Crossley, Self

  • Oppose
  • Told a story about a friend who went to a hospital for bleeding issues and was ultimately detained for three days against her will because of purported mental issues
  • Concerned that people do not know their rights currently

 
Charlie McMurray Horton, Harris County Hospital District

  • Support
  • Bill ties in patient’s psychiatric rights which isn’t currently done with these detentions

 
Workman closed

  • Need to give doctors the tools they need to help patients

 
Bill left pending
 
HB 938 – Rose, Relating to increased oversight by the Department of State Health Services of hospitals that commit certain violations.

  • Currently a complaint investigation is completed by DSHS after reporting of an adverse event
  • Bill establishes protocols that allow DSHS to require a hospital committing a violation resulting in a PAE to develop a plan to address deficiencies
  • No fiscal note

 
Lee Spiller, Citizens Commission on Human Rights

  • Support
  • PAEs are bad because they shouldn’t have happened in the first place
  • Sunset process had a theme of graduated sanctions throughout
  • If a preventable error is made DSHS may need to visit the facility more frequently; this bill speaks to that point

 
Anthony Thomas, Self

  • Support
  • Mother was at an assisted living facility, she became sick and was taken to a hospital and ultimately died; witness wrote a letter to DSHS who investigated the hospital and determined several state and federal rules had been broken
  • Would like more frequent checks on hospitals who have PAEs to avoid future situations like his

 
Rose closed

  • This is meaningful legislation that will create safer environments for patients
  • Bill passed out of the committee last session
  • Miller noted this is a reactionary process; would like to see a more preventative program in place
  • Zedler asked if other states have similar provisions
    • Not sure; everything done by the hospitals for their improvement plan would have to be approved by DSHS

 
Bill left pending
 
HB 2752 – Zerwas, Relating to a chronic respiratory disease state strategic plan developed by the Department of State Health Services.

  • Committee substitute laid out
  • Sub is a lege council draft making no substantive changes
  • Directs DSHS to gather and provide recommendations to reduce morbidity and mortality from chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD
  • Medical schools are eligible to be included in the work group
  • No anticipated fiscal note

 
Gaylene Lee, Texas Society for Respiratory Care

  • Support

 
Bill left pending
 
HB 179 – Zedler, Relating to the investigation and resolution of complaints filed against physicians.

  • Committee substitute laid out
  • Made language more specific when dealing with the allegation
    • Physicians have been sending back file boxes of information because allegations are so vague and they try to justify every decision made for a patient
  • Doctors receive complaints and don’t really know what they’re doing wrong
  • When Medical Board is spending time on this kind of thing and they cant find where statutes have been violated it wastes time and personnel

 
Bill left pending
 
HB 2055 – Davis, Relating to the establishment of a sentinel surveillance program for emerging and neglected tropical diseases.

  • Establishes sentinel surveillance program that would use a limited network of carefully selected reporting sites to identify outbreaks in preliminary stages
  • These diseases are not effectively tracked because of lack of awareness and other reasons

 
Anna Dragsbaek, Immunization Partnership

  • Support
  • Many of these diseases may be vaccine preventable.
  • This is important because these diseases are not well known by Texas physicians
  • There is already a sentinel system in the state this bill would only add diseases to the list to be tracked

 
Jennifer Herricks, Self

  • Support

 
Bill left pending
 
HB 3433 – Sheffield, Relating to level of care designations for hospitals that provide neonatal intensive care services.

  • Committee substitute laid out
  • HB 15 (83R) was intended to bring better outcomes birthing babies in Texas
  • Development process of the rules has shown inadequate rural representation on the perinatal advisory council, most rural hospitals delivering babies did not believe they would be subject to the designations because of discussions during the bill passage process
  • Council has been supportive of rural needs but rules can still be challenging to comply with
  • Implementing the rules in rural settings will be much more challenging than in urban areas
  • Bill was originally filed to give a carve-out for rural hospitals and to ensure rural hospitals are only to be used for normal deliveries
  • Asking that rural hospitals have more representation in the rulemaking process and that there be more time given to develop rules
  • Adds two new rural positions on PAC one physician and one administrator
  • Moves implementation date forward one year
  • Some people believe the original bill was an unfunded mandate
  • Most stakeholders are comfortable with the changes

 
Eugene Toy, Texas Medical Association

  • Support
  • Chair of PAC
  • Very important process for establishing NICU designation standards and perinatal levels of care
  • Discussed some findings of the council

 
Elizabeth Sjoberg, THA

  • Support
  • Would very much appreciate the development of appropriate guidelines

 
Don McBeth, TORCH

  • Support
  • About half of the rural hospitals in Texas provide OB services
  • HB 15 was a positive step but implementations has been somewhat troublesome
  • Bill would give all hospitals a little relief to enact this properly; hospitals are going through ACA transitions as well as the ICD-10 services currently
  • Have heard many rural hospitals would discontinue OB services without some relief from the implementation of HB 15

 
Bill left pending