Subscribe to receive our Floor Reports covering all the action on the Texas House and Senate floor!
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Current law authorizes the Department of Aging and Disability Services
(DADS) to assess and levy administrative penalties on Medicaid waiver programs.
DADS may currently impose two sanctions for contract non-compliance: a vendor
hold or contract termination.
This legislation would authorize DADS to enforce an intermediate
sanction that is stronger than a vendor hold but not as severe as a contract
termination.
The purpose of the legislation is to increase accountability measures
being imposed on providers who are providing services to individuals with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. Establishing a remedial action for circumstances in
which a contract termination is too egregious to address a provider’s
noncompliance fits within our view of a legitimate role of government. This allows for a level of consequence for non-compliance that may be more proportional to the violation than contract termination. We
support SB 1385 because it protects the health and safety of individuals who
have entrusted their care to providers, and holds non-compliant actors
accountable without going farther than necessary to do so.