BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, Chair


          SB 1445 (Evans) - Developmental services: regional centers:  
          individual program plans: telehealth.
          
          Amended: April 10, 2014         Policy Vote: Human Services 5-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: May 5, 2014       Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: SB 1445 would explicitly authorize telehealth  
          services and supports authorized to be included in an individual  
          program plan under the Lanterman Act.

          Fiscal Impact: 
              Minor costs to provide technical assistance to regional  
              centers by the Department of Developmental Services (General  
              Fund).

              Unknown impact on the use of services by regional center  
              consumers (General Fund and federal funds).  To the extent  
              that the bill results in regional center consumers using  
              telehealth services, there could be both increased  
              utilization of services and reduced costs for current  
              services. To date, there has been limited use of telehealth  
              in the regional center system, so predicting utilization  
              impacts is difficult.

              There may be circumstances where greater knowledge of the  
              availability of telehealth services by consumers and their  
              families increases the utilization services. For example, in  
              rural areas of the state there may be limited numbers of  
              providers for certain services. For services that are  
              recurring or of long duration (such as behavioral health  
              services), greater access to providers in other areas of the  
              state through telehealth may increase the demand for those  
              services by consumers from rural areas.

              On the other hand, services provided through telehealth may  
              be less expensive than services provided in person. In such  
              cases, greater use of telehealth may reduce costs to the  
              regional centers. 








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          Background: California provides community-based services to  
          approximately 250,000 persons with developmental disabilities  
          and their families through a statewide system of 21 regional  
          centers. Regional centers are private, nonprofit agencies under  
          contract with the Department of Developmental Services for the  
          provision of various services and supports to people with  
          developmental disabilities. As a single point of entry, regional  
          centers provide diagnostic and assessment services to determine  
          eligibility, convene planning teams to develop an Individual  
          Program Plan for each eligible consumer, and either provide or  
          obtain from generic agencies appropriate services for each  
          consumer in accordance with the Individual Program Plan. 

          Proposed Law: SB 1445 would explicitly authorize telehealth  
          services and supports authorized to be included in an individual  
          program plan under the Lanterman Act.

          Related Legislation: 
              AB 1231 (V.M. Perez, 2013) would have required the  
              Department of Developmental Services to inform all regional  
              centers that appropriate services may be provided to  
              regional center consumers through the use of telehealth.  
              That bill was vetoed by Governor Brown.
              SB 764 (Steinberg, 2012) would have required the use of  
              telehealth to be considered when developing each Individual  
              Program Plan. That bill was vetoed by Governor Brown.
              SB 1050 (Alquist, 2012) would have require the Department  
              of Developmental Services to establish an autism telehealth  
              taskforce. That bill was vetoed by Governor Brown.

          Comments: There is nothing in current law that prohibits the use  
          of telehealth services to provide appropriate services to  
          regional center consumers. Prior bills on this subject have been  
          vetoed by Governor Brown, citing the ability of regional centers  
          to authorize appropriate telehealth services under current law.  
          However, by placing an explicit authorization for the use of  
          telehealth in the Lanterman Act, it is possible that the bill  
          will increase awareness of, and interest in, telehealth services  
          as a way to access services and supports by regional center  
          consumers and their families. Such an increase in awareness may  
          lead to increased utilization of services, as described above.










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