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

SPONSOR Cervantes

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/14/07

HB 980

SHORT TITLE Stroke Victim Rehabilitation Pilot Program

SB

ANALYST Geisler

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$1,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates: SB 951, HB 1056

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Aging and Long-Term Services Department (ALTSD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 980 appropriates $1,000,000 from the general fund to the Aging and Long-Term

Services Department (ALTSD) in FY 08 to support a pilot program using advanced technology

for rehabilitation of stroke victims and treatment of other brain injuries, including upper body

injuries and pre- or post- evaluations for surgeries. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance

remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008 shall revert to the general fund.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

ALTSD notes that the appropriation of $1 million to ALTSD for this program is not included in

the executive budget request for the department. Most likely the funds would be contracted out.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

A pilot program is proposed to test the usefulness of an advanced technology in the rehabilitation

of motor function in individuals who have an acquired brain injury. These injuries can result

from several forms of stroke, resulting in anoxia. The loss of oxygen and/or glucose supply to

nerves and tissues, located centrally in the brain or peripherally in the extremities, often result in

House Bill 980 – Page

2

impaired motor control and coordination. Similarly, traumatic brain injuries can affect areas of

the brain that control motor function and coordination, leading to impaired functioning of the

upper extremities.

Rehabilitative treatment planning for those with brain-injury-related impaired motor function is

critically dependent upon obtaining objective clinical measurements. It is believed that the most

likely use of these funds is to contract for use the Automated Pegboard System (APB2000) to

objectively quantify improvement in motor function over time. This system's reliability and

validity were tested in 2003 in California through a multi-facility study and results were

published in The Journal of Applied Research.

Two groups of subjects were matched in this study for age, hand dominance, and gender and

screened to rule out visual, cognitive, and upper extremity mobility impairments that might

confound results. The control group consisted of seven (7) healthy adults (with a mean age of

67.4 yrs), while the test group consisted of seven (7) medically stable brain-injured adults, who

were recovering from some form of stroke (with a mean age of 69.17 yrs). Results of the study

support the APB2000's use as a highly reliable tool to provide clinical measurements for baseline

and progression testing in both populations. Validity scores however, were low, but likely could

be improved with larger sample sizes to reduce the effect of outliers. These results suggest that

this equipment provides an objective clinical measurement of upper extremity motor function for

rehabilitative treatment planning.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

ALTSD notes that piloting this rehabilitation equipment may constitute human subject research

in which case all legal guidelines for such research would need to be adhered to.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

There would be minimal administrative impact on ALTSD. ALTSD would be required to RFP

the contractual services.

DUPLICATION

HB 980 is duplicated by HB 1056 and SB 951.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

ALTSD notes that the pilot program proposed for use of the equipment is not described. It is

unknown whether the pilot study is to further test the equipment itself or to use the equipment to

measure the effectiveness of other therapeutic measures.

ALTERNATIVES

The funding in this bill might be directed to an entity that is familiar with medical related

projects, such as the Health Sciences Center at the University of New Mexico.

GG/csd