Governor Abbott Signs Two THCA Priority Bills

GOVERNOR ABBOTT SIGNS TWO THCA PRIORITY BILLS

Two bills that were at the top of THCA’s agenda this session were signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott on June 10.

One of those bills is HB 2205 by Rep. Travis Clardy and Sen. Dawn Buckingham. That bill will require:

• The lead surveyor who cited an infraction to be available for questions in an IDR hearing.
• A registered nurse with long term care experience to review a citation of a clinical nature in the IDR process.
• A surveyor who cites an Immediate Jeopardy violation to notify the facility of the tag right away. The surveyor or another HHSC representative must remain accessible until the plan of removal has been received.

The other is SB 1519 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Rep. Clardy, which will create a permanent long term care council. Composed of agency personnel and providers, the council will make recommendations on:

• Making the survey and IDR process more consistent and efficient and less burdensome for providers.
• Improving quality-based payments and rate-setting methodologies.
• Whether to delay the transfer of rate-setting from HHSC to MCO’s from 2021 to 2023.
• Bed allocation rules and whether they should be modified.

The next step in the process is working with HHSC to ensure the bills are implemented in a proper and timely fashion. THCA has taken action to achieve that goal and it will remain our priority in the coming months.