Section 32.042 - Duties of Executive Commissioner; Rules(a) The executive commissioner 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.Tex. Health and Safety Code § 32.042
Amended by Acts 2015, Texas Acts of the 84th Leg. - Regular Session, ch. 1,Sec. 3.0093, eff. 4/2/2015.Amended by Acts 2015, Texas Acts of the 84th Leg. - Regular Session, ch. 1,Sec. 3.0092, eff. 4/2/2015.Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 124, Sec. 7, eff. 9/1/1995.