HBA-MPM C.S.H.B. 2202 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2202
By: Tillery
Public Education
5/5/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, there are no school-based health clinics across the state that
provide health services to children without access to health care due to
lack of providers or extreme poverty.  C.S.H.B. 2202 authorizes a school
district to establish school-based student health centers (centers) to meet
these needs and authorizes the centers to provide services to a student
only if the district obtains written consent from the student's parent,
guardian, or person having legal control of the student. Furthermore, this
bill authorizes a district to seek assistance in establishing and operating
a health center from any public health agency located in the community, and
requires a public health agency, upon request, to cooperate and provide
assistance to a district to the extent possible; and authorizes the
district and a public health agency to, by agreement, jointly establish,
operate, and fund a health center. This bill also requires the commissioner
of education and commissioner of public health to jointly administer a
program to award grants to assist districts with the costs of operating
health centers and to adopt rules establishing procedures for awarding the
grants. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the commissioner of education and to
the commissioner of public health in SECTION 1 (Section 38.011, Education
Code) of this bill. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 38, Education Code, by adding Section 38.011, as
follows: 

Sec. 38.011.  SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CENTERS.  (a)  Authorizes a school
district (district) in this state, if the district identifies the need, to
design a model in accordance with this section for the delivery of
cooperative health care programs for students and their families and to
compete for grants awarded under this section.  Authorizes the model to
provide for the delivery of conventional health services and disease
prevention of emerging health threats specific to the district. 

(b)  Authorizes a district to establish a school-based health center at one
or more campuses in the district to meet the health care needs of students
and their families on the recommendation of an advisory council established
under Subsection (g).  Authorizes a district to contract with a person to
provide services at a school-based health center. 

(c)  Authorizes a school-based health center to provide services to a
student only if the district or provider with whom the district contracts
obtains the written consent of the student's parent, guardian, or other
person having legal control of the student on a consent form developed by
the district or provider.  Authorizes an appropriate person to give consent
for a student to receive ongoing services or to limit consent to one or
more services provided on a single occasion.  Provides that the consent
form must list every service the health center delivers in a format that
complies with applicable state and federal laws and which allows a person
to consent to one or more categories of services. Sets forth the
permissible categories of services. 

(d)  Prohibits reproductive services or counseling from being provided
through a schoolbased health center using grand funds awarded under this
section.  Provides that any service using grant funds must be provided by
an appropriate professional who is properly licensed, certified, or
otherwise authorized under state law to provide the service. 

(e) Requires the staff of a school-based health center and the person whose
consent is obtained under Subsection (c) to jointly identify any
health-related concerns of a student that may be interfering with the
student's well-being or ability to succeed in school. 

(f)  Requires the staff of the center, if it is determined that a student
needs a referral for mental health services, to notify the person whose
consent is required under Subsection (c), verbally and in writing, of the
basis for the referral.  Prohibits this referral from being provided unless
the person provides written consent for the type of service to be provided
and provides specific written content for each treatment occasion. 

(g)  Authorizes the board of trustees of a district to establish and
appoint members to a local health education and health care advisory
council to make recommendations to the district on the establishment of
school-based health centers and to assist the district in ensuring that
local community values are reflected in the operation of each center and in
the provision of health education.  Provides that a majority of the council
members must be parents of students enrolled in the district.  Requires the
board of trustees to also appoint at least one person from certain groups. 

(h)  Authorizes a district to seek assistance in establishing and operating
a school-based health center from any public agency in the community.
Requires a public health agency, on request, to jointly cooperate with a
district and to the extent practicable, considering the resources of the
agency, to provide assistance.  Authorizes a district and public health
agency, by agreement, to jointly establish, operate, and fund a
school-based health center. 

(i)  Provides that if a school-based health center is located in an area
described by Subsection (j), a certain protocol shall take place among the
district, staff, and providers in order to provide service delivery. 

(j)  Make the requirements prescribed by Subsection (i) applicable only to
a school-based health center serving an area that is located in a county
with a population no greater than 50,000 or that has been designated under
state or federal law as falling within certain categories of those that are
underserved. 

(k)  Requires the staff of a school-based health center, if a person
receiving a medical service from the center has a primary care physician,
to provide notice of the service to the physician in order to allow the
physician to maintain the person's medical history. 

(l) Requires a school district or provider with whom the district contracts
to seek all available sources of funding to compensate the district or
provider for services provided by a school-based health center, including
money available under the state Medicaid program, a state children's health
plan program, or private health insurance or health benefit plans. 

(m)  Requires the commissioner of education and the commissioner of public
health, subject to the availability of federal or state appropriated funds,
to jointly administer a program under which grants are awarded to assist
districts with the costs of operating school-based health centers in
accordance with this section.  Requires the commissioners, by rules adopted
in accordance with this section, to establish procedures for awarding
grants. 

(n)  Prohibits a district from receiving more than $250,000 per biennium
through grants awarded under this section.  Provides that a district must
provide matching funds in accordance with rules adopted under Subsection
(m) to be eligible for a grant.  Authorizes the matching funds to be
obtained from any source available to the district, including inkind
contributions, community or foundation grants, individual contributions,
and local  governmental agency operating funds. 

(o)  Provides that the rules adopted under Subsection (n) must provide
certain provisions with respect to grants awarded to districts. 

(p)  Provides that the commissioner of education and commissioner of public
health are partners in administering the grants.  Requires the Texas
Education Agency and Texas Department of Health to enter into a memorandum
of understanding prescribing the duties of each agency and commissioner.
Provides that the memorandum must include certain provisions with respect
to the duties and responsibilities of each commissioner and agency the
goals of the programs developed.  Requires the commissioner of public
health to adopt rules establishing standards for health care delivery in a
school-based health center funded through a grant, with certain emphases. 

(q)  Requires the commissioner of education and commissioner of public
health, based on statistics obtained from every school-based health center
in this state, to jointly issue an annual report to the legislature
containing certain information regarding the health centers.  Requires the
commissioners, in obtaining statistics for the report, to ensure that data
is collected for each county and aggregated appropriately according to
geographical region. 

(r)  Requires the commissioner of education and commissioner of public
health to require client surveys to be conducted in school-based health
centers funded through grants provided under this section, and the results
of those surveys must be included in the annual report required under
Subsection (q). 

SECTION 2.Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2202 differs from the original in SECTION 1 (proposed Section
38.011 (School-Based Health Centers), Education Code), by changing the
title from "School-Based Student Health Centers" to "School-Based Health
Centers" and modifies it as follows: 

(a)  The substitute authorizes a school district (district) in this state,
if the district identifies the need, to design a model in accordance with
this section for the delivery of cooperative health care programs for
students and their families and to compete for grants awarded under this
section, and authorizes the model to provide for the delivery of
conventional health services and disease prevention of emerging health
threats specific to the district.  Subsection (a) of the original bill
authorized a district to establish a school-based student health center at
one or more campuses in the district to meet the health care needs of
students without other access to health care, after consultation with the
appropriate campus-level planning and decision-making committees
(committee) established under Subchapter F (District-Level and Site-Based
Decision-Making), Chapter 11 (School Districts), Education Code.  The
original also authorized the health center to provide services in mental
health care, physical health care, including immunizations, family and home
support, health education, or social services. 

(b) The substitute introduces new text for this subsection.  Please see the
Section-by-Section analysis. 

(c)  Redesignated from Subsection (b) of the original.  Authorizes a
school-based health center, rather than a school-based student health
center, to provide services to a student only if the district or provider
with whom the district contracts, rather than solely the district, obtains
the written consent of the student's parent, guardian, or other person
having legal control of the student on a consent form developed by the
district or provider.  Authorizes an appropriate person to give consent for
a student to receive ongoing services or to limit consent to one or more
services provided on a single occasion.  Provides that the consent form
must list every service the health center delivers in a format that
complies with  applicable state and federal laws and which allows a person
to consent to one or more categories of services.  Sets forth the
permissible categories of services. 

(d)  The substitute introduces new text for this subsection.  Please see
the Section-by-Section Analysis. 

(e)  Redesignated from Subsection (c). Includes a student's well-being
among those concerns to be addressed by relevant persons with respect to a
student's ability to succeed in school. Deletes text requiring those
parties to jointly accept responsibility for addressing those concerns.
Makes conforming changes. 

(f)  The substitute introduces new text for this subsection.  Please see
the Section-by-Section Analysis. 

(g)  The substitute introduces new text for this subsection.  Please see
the Section-by-Section Analysis. 

(h)  Redesignated from Subsection (d).  Makes conforming and nonsubstantive
changes. 

(i)-(k)  The substitute introduces new text for these subsections.  Please
see the Section-bySection Analysis. 

(l)  Redesignated from Subsection (e) of the original.  Includes a state
children's health plan program among those resources available to
compensate the district or provider for services provided by a school-based
health center.  Makes conforming changes. 

(m)  Redesignated from Subsection (f) of the original.  The substitute
requires the commissioner of education and the commissioner of public
health, subject to the availability of federal or state appropriated funds,
to jointly administer a program under which grants are awarded to assist
districts with the costs of operating school-based health centers in
accordance with this section, and requires the commissioners, by rules
adopted in accordance with this section, to establish procedures for
awarding grants.  The original required the Texas Education Agency (agency)
to award grants to assist districts with the costs of operating health
centers in accordance with this section, subject to available
appropriations. The original further required the State Board of Education
(board), after consultation with the Health and Human Services Commission
(commission), by rule, to establish procedures for awarding grants under
this subsection.  The original provided that the procedures must include a
statewide competitive process under which the agency evaluates proposals
submitted by districts according to guidelines and objectives adopted by
the board with assistance from the commission and prohibited the agency
from awarding more than $250,000 per health center location. 

(n)  Redesignated from Subsection (g) of the original and adds additional
text prohibiting a district from receiving more than $250,000 per biennium
through grants awarded under this section.  Includes in-kind contributions
among those sources from which the district may obtain matching funds.
Makes conforming changes. 

(o)-(r)  The substitute introduces new text for these subsections.  Please
see the Section-bySection Analysis. 

SECTION 2 of the original is deleted.  That SECTION required the agency,
with assistance from the commission, to evaluate the impact of the health
centers operating in this state on student health and student readiness to
learn and succeed in school, and to submit a report on this evaluation to
the legislature which included recommendations for state funding of health
centers no later than January 15, 2001.  (Please note that text regarding
an evaluation (report) of the school-based health centers is addressed in
Subsection (q) of the substitute.) 

SECTION 2 (long emergency clause) of the substitute is redesignated from
SECTION 3 of the original.