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

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ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/17/07

HB 871

SHORT TITLE Telehealth Programs and Projects

SB

ANALYST Geisler

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$500.0

Recurring

General

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to: SB180, HB 173, HB 429

Duplicates (essentially) SB1053

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

Chief Information Officer (CIO)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 871 would appropriate $500,000 from the general fund to the Department of Health

(DOH) for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2008 to coordinate and assist in implementation of

telemedicine projects throughout the state. These purposes are to be accomplished through

contracting with a qualified nonprofit organization with demonstrated expertise in the knowledge

and coordination of clinical services delivery and technical support of telehealth programs

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

HB 871 creates a recurring general fund appropriation. Any unexpended balance remaining at

the end of the fiscal year 2008 shall revert to the general fund. DOH notes that the executive

budget request contained an expansion request of $2 million for telehealth, although not entirely

for the specific purposes outlined in HB 871. However, that request was not recommended in

either the executive or Legislative Finance Committee budget recommendations for DOH in

FY08. A supplemental request for the same amount is supported by the executive.

House Bill 871 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DOH notes that of the 33 counties in the State, 28 are classified as Health Physician Shortage

Area (HPSA) or Moderate HPSA (Maternal and Child Health Title V Block grant, 2006). These

shortages especially affect the quality and frequency of pediatric health care in rural and frontier

areas. Telehealth is an evolving strategy for providing quality healthcare to rural and frontier

residents in their home communities. SB 180 would establish a new telehealth network of

pediatric specialty services, bringing these services to rural areas where pediatric specialists are

not readily available. It would likely coordinate these pediatric specialty services through

existing service providers (primary care centers, private practices, public health offices, and rural

hospitals).

Several different telehealth programs are currently administered by DOH, including Project

ECHO, school-based health center telehealth program, and the Screening, Brief Intervention,

Referral and Treatment Program (SBIRT). The department’s Office of School and Adolescent

Health is equipping 18 school-based health centers (SBHCs) with telehealth equipment through

June 2007. The majority of these SBHC are located in rural, frontier areas of the state. The

telehealth equipment will be used to serve school-aged children, primarily students in grades 6-

12. Services planned include clinical consultation, training, education, and case conferencing.

Telehealth activities in SBHCs will be targeted toward adolescent primary and behavioral health

care assessment and intervention and obesity prevention and intervention. The University of

New Mexico/Health Sciences Center also operates numerous telehealth activities.

The proposed appropriation may be targeted towards Sangre de Cristo Health Partnership, the

key DOH partner in the operation of the SBIRT Program. Sangre de Cristo also provides

support for the NMDOH SBHC telehealth initiative.

DUPLICATION, RELATIONSHIP

HB 871 essentially duplicates SB 1053 which would also appropriate $500,000 from the general

fund to the DOH to coordinate and assist in implementation of telemedicine projects throughout

the state. SB 1053 is mores specific in purpose as it also requires identification of clinical and

technological gaps in rural health care.

HB 871 relates to HB 429 and SB 180 both of which would appropriate $600,000 from the

general fund to the DOH for expenditure in fiscal year 2008 to fund a telehealth program

providing training, education, case conferencing and clinical consultation targeted towards

childhood diabetes and obesity, developmental disabilities early intervention, mental health of

children under 5 years old, pediatric asthma and other pediatric specialties.

HB173, which would appropriate $150,000 to the Board of Regents of the University of New

Mexico in FY08 to fund telehealth consultation for rural health providers and school-based

health centers (SBHC) working to prevent and treat childhood obesity and HB 427 which

proposes addition of social workers, counselors and community health representatives to the

definition of health care provider in the New Mexico Telehealth Act. SB 218 and HB 731 both

of which would appropriate $2,000,000 for the Board of Regents at the University of New

Mexico (UNM) to be directed to the Hepatitis C ECHO Program at the University of New

Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM/HSC).

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