BILL ANALYSIS
By: Naishtat
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
According to the University of Houston's Health Law & Policy Institute, emergency room usage in the United States between 1992 and 2002 climbed 23% from 89.8 million to 110 million visits. It is predicted that this upward trend will continue and cause an unprecedented strain on hospital safety net providers. Currently, there is not a routine reporting mechanism by the approximately 500 Texas hospitals capturing the percentage of emergency room patients who are insured or uninsured.
C.S.H.B. 3454 would require hospitals on their annual survey to capture the percentage of insured and uninsured patients who are examined and treated in their emergency rooms. By capturing this information, the State will have the data to understand trends of emergency room utilization in Texas.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 2 of this bill.
ANALYSIS
Amends the Health and Safety Code by requiring hospitals as part of their annual survey to collect the percentage of patients examined or treated in the hospital's emergency room who are uninsured and who are insured.
Requires the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules no later than December 1, 2005.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2005.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
The substitute requires hospitals to capture and report the data. The bill as filed would have required the Texas Health Care Information Council to capture and report the data.