H.B. No. 1575

	AN ACT
	relating to improving health outcomes for pregnant women under
	Medicaid and certain other public benefits programs.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the legislature to improve
	health outcomes for pregnant women and their children through the
	case management for children and pregnant women program. In
	recognizing that nonmedical factors impact health outcomes, this
	legislation, in part, authorizes Medicaid to provide case
	management services for nonmedical needs that will improve health
	outcomes for pregnant women and their children.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 531, Government Code, is
	amended by adding Section 531.024183 to read as follows:
	Sec. 531.024183.  STANDARDIZED SCREENING QUESTIONS FOR
	ASSESSING NONMEDICAL HEALTH-RELATED NEEDS OF CERTAIN PREGNANT
	WOMEN; INFORMED CONSENT. (a) In this section, "alternatives to
	abortion program" means the program established by the commission
	to enhance and increase resources that promote childbirth for women
	facing unplanned pregnancy, or a successor program.
	(b)  The commission shall adopt standardized screening
	questions designed to screen for, identify, and aggregate data
	regarding the nonmedical health-related needs of pregnant women
	eligible for benefits under a public benefits program administered
	by the commission or another health and human services agency,
	including:
	(1)  Medicaid; and
	(2)  the alternatives to abortion program.
	(c)  Subject to Subsection (d), the standardized screening
	questions must be used by Medicaid managed care organizations and
	providers participating in the alternatives to abortion program.
	(d)  A managed care organization or provider participating
	in a public benefits program described by Subsection (b), including
	the alternatives to abortion program, may not perform a screening
	of a pregnant woman using the standardized screening questions
	required by this section unless the organization or provider:
	(1)  informs the woman:
	(A)  about the type of data that will be collected
	during the screening and the purposes for which the data will be
	used; and
	(B)  that the collected data will become part of
	the woman's medical record or service plan; and
	(2)  obtains the woman's informed consent to perform
	the screening.
	(e)  A managed care organization or provider participating
	in a public benefits program described by Subsection (b), including
	the alternatives to abortion program, must provide to the
	commission, in the form and manner prescribed by the commission,
	data the organization or provider collects using the standardized
	screening questions required by this section.
	(f)  Not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year,
	the commission shall prepare and submit to the legislature a report
	that, using de-identified information, summarizes the data
	collected and provided to the commission under Subsection (e)
	during the previous biennium. In accordance with Section 531.014,
	the commission may consolidate the report required under this
	subsection with any other report to the legislature required under
	this chapter or another law that relates to the same subject matter.
	SECTION 3.  Chapter 531, Government Code, is amended by
	adding Subchapter Q to read as follows:
	SUBCHAPTER Q.  CASE MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR CERTAIN PREGNANT WOMEN
	Sec. 531.651.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
	(1)  "Case management for children and pregnant women
	program" means the "children and pregnant women program," as
	defined by Section 533.002555.
	(2)  "Nonmedical health-related needs screening" means
	a screening performed using the standardized screening questions
	required under Section 531.024183.
	(3)  "Program services" means case management services
	provided under the case management for children and pregnant women
	program, including assistance provided to a Medicaid managed care
	organization in coordinating the provision of benefits to a
	recipient enrolled in the organization's managed care plan in a
	manner that is consistent with the recipient's plan of care.