Sec. 32.042. DUTIES OF BOARD; RULES

(a) The board by rule shall adopt:

(1) minimum standards and objectives to implement voluntary perinatal health care systems; and

(2) policies for health promotion and education, risk assessment, access to care, and perinatal system structure, including the transfer and transportation of pregnant women and infants.

(b) The rules must:

(1) reflect all geographic areas of the state, considering time and distance;

(2) provide specific requirements for appropriate care of perinatal patients; and

(3) facilitate coordination among all perinatal service providers and health care facilities in the delivery area.

(c) The rules must include:

(1) risk reduction guidelines for preconceptional, prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, and infant care, including guidelines for the transfer and transportation of perinatal patients;

(2) criteria for determining geographic boundaries of perinatal health care systems;

(3) minimum requirements of health promotion and education, risk assessment, access to care, and coordination of services that must be present in a perinatal health care system;

(4) minimum requirements for resources and equipment needed by a health care facility to treat perinatal patients;

(5) standards for the availability and qualifications of the health care personnel treating perinatal patients in a facility;

(6) requirements for data collection, including operation of the perinatal health care system and patient outcomes;

(7) requirements for periodic performance evaluation of the system and its components; and

(8) assurances that health care facilities will not refuse to accept the transfer of a perinatal patient solely because of the person's inability to pay for services or because of the person's age, sex, race, religion, or national origin.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 124, Sec. 7, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.