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 23, 2014 Consultant: Brendan McCarthy 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. SB 1445 (Evans) Page 1 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. SB 1445 (Evans) Page 2