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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Cordova, K.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/29/06

HB 289

SHORT TITLE Rural NM Chronic Medical Disease Treatment

SB

ANALYST Hoffmann

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$600.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HB303, HB217, HB654, and SB89.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico Department of Health (DOH)

New Mexico Health Policy Commission (HPC)

Department of Corrections (DC)

New Mexico Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 289 appropriates $600,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the Uni-

versity of New Mexico for the School of Medicine to work with the Corrections Department and

a network of primary care clinics to continue to develop a model of training and service delivery

using interactive telemedicine.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $600,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert

to the general fund.

There is no appropriation for any equipment or personnel that the Corrections Department may

House Bill 289 – Page 2

have to provide. This could result in a slightly increased fiscal burden on the Corrections De-

partment. However this increase might be at least partially offset by savings generated by utiliz-

ing this technology to treat inmates with difficult medical conditions. Other potential savings

from telemedicine identified by the Health Policy Commission include the cost of continuing

education for health professionals in rural areas, and transportation costs for moving inmates for

treatment in Albuquerque or Santa Fe (where most physicians and facilities are concentrated).

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to the Higher Education Department, the appropriation in HB289 will support the

Area Health Education Center (AHEC) at the UNM School of Medicine. The Executive budget

recommendation includes a line-item amount of $50,000 for this purpose. The LFC budget rec-

ommendation includes $177,600 for this purpose.

There may be some overlap in funding for telehealth with this appropriation, since it will use in-

teractive telemedicine technology. The Executive budget recommendation for telemedicine in-

cludes $150,000, and the LFC recommendation is $286,100. Adoption of this bill would aug-

ment the funding for both of these initiatives.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Department of Corrections notes that if this program is implemented it may result in a

change of procedure with respect to inmate medical care. The change in procedure may result in

a slight increase in administrative burden in the short run. Additionally telemedicine may result

in two sets of records being kept, one at the doctor’s end and one at the patients end. This would

create a slight increase in the administrative burden.

The Executive created a Telehealth Commission in 2005 to facilitate the development of greater

public and private partnerships, which will likely be necessary to successfully launch an initia-

tive that requires substantial investments in technology to improve health care delivery in rural

areas.

RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 217 appropriates $460,000 to the University of New Mexico’s Center on Aging to

develop a network of health centers in rural and small urban communities using telemedicine to

facilitate the treatment of geriatric disorders.

House Bill 303 appropriates $1,000,000 to the Board of Regents of the University of New Mex-

ico for the telehealth program at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.

House Bill 654 appropriates $50,000 to the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico

for the Center for Development and Disability to fund infrastructure for an outreach program us-

ing telemedicine to support a network of early intervention providers, families and children with

special needs, and to provide training, education, case conferencing and clinical consultation.

CH/nt