Bill Text: TX HB119 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to prohibiting organ transplant recipient discrimination on the basis of certain disabilities.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 10-6)
Status: (Passed) 2021-05-18 - Effective on 9/1/21 [HB119 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB119-Enrolled.html
H.B. No. 119 |
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relating to prohibiting organ transplant recipient discrimination | ||
on the basis of certain disabilities. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter S, Chapter 161, Health | ||
and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER S. ALLOCATION OF KIDNEYS AND OTHER ORGANS AVAILABLE FOR | ||
TRANSPLANT | ||
SECTION 2. Section 161.471, Health and Safety Code, is | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 161.471. DEFINITIONS [ |
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subchapter: | ||
(1) "Auxiliary aids and services" means: | ||
(A) qualified interpreters or other effective | ||
methods of making aurally delivered materials available to | ||
individuals with hearing impairments; | ||
(B) qualified readers, taped texts, or other | ||
effective methods of making visually delivered materials available | ||
to individuals with visual impairments; | ||
(C) provision of information in a format readily | ||
accessible and understandable to individuals with cognitive, | ||
neurological, developmental, or intellectual disabilities; | ||
(D) acquisition or modification of equipment or | ||
devices; and | ||
(E) other services and actions similar to those | ||
described by Paragraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D). | ||
(2) "Disability" has the meaning assigned by the | ||
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Section 12101 et | ||
seq.). | ||
(3) "Health care facility" means a facility licensed, | ||
certified, or otherwise authorized to provide health care in the | ||
ordinary course of business, including a hospital, nursing | ||
facility, laboratory, intermediate care facility, mental health | ||
facility, transplant center, and any other facility for individuals | ||
with intellectual or developmental disabilities. | ||
(4) "Health care provider" means an individual or | ||
facility licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized to provide | ||
health care in the ordinary course of business or professional | ||
practice, including a physician, hospital, nursing facility, | ||
laboratory, intermediate care facility, mental health facility, | ||
transplant center, and any other facility for individuals with | ||
intellectual or developmental disabilities. | ||
(5) "Organ [ |
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an organization that is a qualified organ procurement organization | ||
under 42 U.S.C. Section 273 that is currently certified or | ||
recertified in accordance with that federal law. | ||
SECTION 3. Subchapter S, Chapter 161, Health and Safety | ||
Code, is amended by adding Section 161.473 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 161.473. DISCRIMINATION ON BASIS OF DISABILITY | ||
PROHIBITED. (a) A health care provider may not, solely on the | ||
basis of an individual's disability: | ||
(1) determine an individual is ineligible to receive | ||
an organ transplant; | ||
(2) deny medical or other services related to an organ | ||
transplant, including evaluation, surgery, counseling, and | ||
postoperative treatment; | ||
(3) refuse to refer the individual to a transplant | ||
center or other related specialist for evaluation or receipt of an | ||
organ transplant; or | ||
(4) refuse to place the individual on an organ | ||
transplant waiting list or place the individual at a position lower | ||
in priority on the list than the position the individual would have | ||
been placed if not for the individual's disability. | ||
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a health care provider | ||
may consider an individual's disability when making a treatment | ||
recommendation or decision solely to the extent that a physician, | ||
following an individualized evaluation of the potential transplant | ||
recipient, determines the disability is medically significant to | ||
the organ transplant. This section does not require a referral or | ||
recommendation for, or the performance of, a medically | ||
inappropriate organ transplant. | ||
(c) A health care provider may not consider an individual's | ||
inability to independently comply with post-transplant medical | ||
requirements as medically significant for the purposes of | ||
Subsection (b) if the individual has: | ||
(1) a known disability; and | ||
(2) the necessary support system to assist the | ||
individual in reasonably complying with the requirements. | ||
(d) A health care facility shall make reasonable | ||
modifications in policies, practices, or procedures as necessary to | ||
allow individuals with a disability access to organ | ||
transplant-related services, including transplant-related | ||
counseling, information, or treatment, unless the health care | ||
facility can demonstrate that making the modifications would | ||
fundamentally alter the nature of the services or would impose an | ||
undue hardship on the facility. Reasonable modifications in | ||
policies, practices, and procedures may include: | ||
(1) communicating with persons supporting or | ||
assisting with the individual's postsurgical and post-transplant | ||
care, including medication; and | ||
(2) considering the support available to the | ||
individual in determining whether the individual is able to | ||
reasonably comply with post-transplant medical requirements, | ||
including support provided by: | ||
(A) family; | ||
(B) friends; or | ||
(C) home and community-based services, including | ||
home and community-based services funded by: | ||
(i) Medicaid; | ||
(ii) Medicare; | ||
(iii) a health plan in which the individual | ||
is enrolled; or | ||
(iv) any other program or source of funding | ||
available to the individual. | ||
(e) A health care provider shall make reasonable efforts to | ||
comply with the policies, practices, and procedures, as applicable, | ||
developed by a health care facility under Subsection (d), as | ||
necessary to allow an individual with a known disability access to | ||
organ transplant-related services, including transplant-related | ||
counseling, information, or treatment, unless the health care | ||
provider can demonstrate that compliance would fundamentally alter | ||
the nature of the services or would impose an undue hardship on the | ||
health care provider. | ||
(f) A health care provider shall make reasonable efforts to | ||
provide auxiliary aids and services to an individual with a known | ||
disability seeking organ transplant-related services, including | ||
organ transplant-related counseling, information, or treatment, as | ||
necessary to allow the individual access to those services, unless | ||
the health care provider can demonstrate that providing the | ||
transplant-related services with auxiliary aids and services | ||
present would fundamentally alter the transplant-related services | ||
provided or would impose an undue hardship on the health care | ||
provider. | ||
(g) A health care provider shall comply with the | ||
requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 | ||
U.S.C. Section 12101 et seq.) to the extent that Act applies to a | ||
health care provider. This subsection may not be construed to | ||
require a health care provider to comply with that Act if the Act | ||
does not otherwise require compliance by the health care provider. | ||
(h) This section applies to each stage of the organ | ||
transplant process. | ||
(i) A violation of this section is grounds for disciplinary | ||
action by the regulatory agency that issued a license, certificate, | ||
or other authority to a health care provider who committed the | ||
violation. Before a regulatory agency may take disciplinary action | ||
against a health care provider for a violation, the applicable | ||
regulatory agency shall: | ||
(1) notify the health care provider of the agency's | ||
finding that the health care provider has violated or is violating | ||
this section or a rule adopted under this section; and | ||
(2) provide the health care provider with an | ||
opportunity to correct the violation without penalty or reprimand. | ||
(j) A physician who in good faith makes a determination that | ||
an individual's disability is medically significant to the organ | ||
transplant, as described by Subsection (b), does not violate this | ||
section. | ||
(k) A health care provider who in good faith makes a | ||
treatment recommendation or decision on the basis of a physician's | ||
determination that an individual's disability is medically | ||
significant to the organ transplant, as described by Subsection | ||
(b), does not violate this section. | ||
SECTION 4. Not later than January 1, 2022, the executive | ||
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall | ||
adopt any rules necessary to implement Subchapter S, Chapter 161, | ||
Health and Safety Code, as amended by this Act. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
I certify that H.B. No. 119 was passed by the House on March | ||
25, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 1 present, not | ||
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. | ||
No. 119 on May 3, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 1 | ||
present, not voting. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||
I certify that H.B. No. 119 was passed by the Senate, with | ||
amendments, on April 29, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 31, | ||
Nays 0. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Secretary of the Senate | ||
APPROVED: __________________ | ||
Date | ||
__________________ | ||
Governor |