S.B. No. 79
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the state system of selective contracting with health
    1-2  care providers for the provision of certain services to Medicaid
    1-3  recipients and certain requirements for those providers.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 32.027, Human Resources
    1-6  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  Except as provided by Subsections (f), (g), and (h), a
    1-8  <A> recipient of medical assistance authorized in this chapter may
    1-9  select any provider authorized by the department to provide medical
   1-10  assistance.
   1-11        SECTION 2.  Section 32.027, Human Resources Code, is amended
   1-12  by adding Subsections (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
   1-13        (f)  The department by rule shall develop a system of
   1-14  selective contracting with health care providers for the provision
   1-15  of nonemergency inpatient hospital services to a recipient of
   1-16  medical assistance under this chapter.  In implementing this
   1-17  subsection, the department shall:
   1-18              (1)  seek input from consumer representatives and from
   1-19  representatives of hospitals licensed under Chapter 241, Health and
   1-20  Safety Code, and from organizations representing those hospitals;
   1-21  and
   1-22              (2)  ensure that providers selected under the system
   1-23  meet the needs of a recipient of medical assistance under this
   1-24  chapter.
    2-1        (g)  The process to select a hospital must afford each
    2-2  disproportionate share hospital an opportunity to negotiate for a
    2-3  contract.  The process will take into account the special
    2-4  circumstances of disproportionate share hospitals when evaluating
    2-5  proposals.
    2-6        (h)  A proposal or bid submitted by a hospital and any work
    2-7  papers, cost reports, or other financial data used to prepare the
    2-8  proposal or bid shall be confidential and not subject to required
    2-9  disclosure by the department or the hospital under any other
   2-10  statute until the executed contracts have been awarded.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  Section 32.029, Human Resources Code, is amended
   2-12  by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
   2-13        (e)  The department or its designee must notify providers of
   2-14  health care services in clear and concise language of the status of
   2-15  their claims on any claim not paid or denied within 30 days of
   2-16  receipt by the payor.
   2-17        SECTION 4.  If before implementing Subsection (f) or (g),
   2-18  Section 32.027, Human Resources Code, as added by this Act, the
   2-19  Health and Human Services Commission determines that a waiver or
   2-20  authorization from a federal agency is necessary for
   2-21  implementation, the commission shall request the waiver or
   2-22  authorization and may authorize a delay in implementing that
   2-23  provision until the waiver or authorization is granted.
   2-24        SECTION 5.  The Health and Human Services Commission and the
   2-25  Texas Department of Health may contract with other state agencies
   2-26  to implement Title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
   2-27  Section 1396 et seq.) to the same extent as granted to the Texas
    3-1  Department of Human Services under Section 32.023, Human Resources
    3-2  Code.
    3-3        SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    3-4        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-5  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-6  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-7  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-8  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.