The following information was obtained from the April 23 issue of the Texas Register:
Public Hearings and Notices
HHSC will hold a public hearing on May 12, 2010, at 9 a.m., to receive public comment on rates for Levels 1 through 25 under the Attendant Compensation Rate Enhancement in the ICF/MR, HCS, and TxHmL programs.
The hearing will be held in the Lone Star Conference Room of the Health and Human Services Commission, Braker Center, Building H, located at 11209 Metric Boulevard, Austin, Texas. Contact Meisha Scott by phone (512) 491-1445; fax (512) 491-1998; or e-mail meisha.scott@hhsc.state.tx.us for briefing packages, written comments, and other information.
HHSC intends to submit Transmittal Number 10-018, Amendment Number 911, to the Texas State Plan for Medical Assistance, under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, which would add external breast prosthesis to the prosthetics section of the state plan. HHSC also intends to submit Amendment 22 to the Texas State Plan for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) under Title XXI of the Social Security Act, which would continue providing women all over the state that fall bewteen 186 and 200 percent of the federal poverty level with prenatal care, labor with delivery, and CHIP coverage to their newborns for the remainder of the 12 months of coverage.
See the relevant section of the Texas Register for details.
Proposed Rules
HHSC proposes to add new §355.8058, concerning Inpatient Direct Graduate Medical Education (GME) Reimbursement, which would repeal Medicaid inpatient hospital reimbursement language in §355.8063 and replace it with program-specific stand alone rules. See the relevant section of the Texas Register to read about other changes.
Adopted Rules
The Texas Medical Board proposes changes to the following sections of the code:
- Acupuncture (“allows applicants more than three attempts to pass the Jurisprudence Examination if they can demonstrate good cause”)
- Procedural Rules (“will prohibit probationers from requesting modification/termination of an order if the probationer is under investigation for alleged noncompliance with the order, and clarifies that modification/termination requests may be made after one year since the effective date of an order”)
- Compliance Program (“amends the title ‘chief of compliance’ to ‘compliance manager'”)
- Disciplinary Guidelines (“provides that if a physician is determined to have negotiated in bad faith in relation to an out-of-network health benefit claim, the licensee may be fined up to $2,000 by the Board”)
- Office-Based Anesthesia Services (“deletes the definition for ‘pain management clinic'”)
- Pain Management Clinics (“establishes definitions that are consistent with those previously found under Chapter 192”)
- General Administrative Duties (“changes to 22 TAC Chapter 577 that clarify the rules regarding general administrative duties of the Board, including but not limited to meetings and the directory of licensees”)
These are only some of the changes to the code. See the relevant section of the Texas Register to see all changes.