BILL ANALYSIS
By: Gallegos
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Currently, hospitals cannot provide health care information to transporting emergency medical services (EMS) providers for billing purposes without violating state law unless the patient signs an authorization. Patients are often unable to sign such an authorization. EMS providers need the information to bill third party payors and the hospital is often the only available source of the information. Without access to the information EMS providers are unable to bill third party payors.
S.B. 1113 allows hospitals to release health care information to transporting EMS providers for the purposes of treatment or payment, to the same extent that information would be available under federal regulations.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
The bill authorizes a patient's health care information to be disclosed without the patient's authorization if the disclosure is to a transporting emergency medical services provider for the purpose of treatment or payment, as those terms are defined by the regulations adopted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; includes the health care operations of quality assessment and improvement activities, specified insurance functions, conducting or arranging for medical reviews, or competency assurance activities described by the regulations adopted under the Health Insurance Probability and Accountability Act of 1996; and to satisfy a request for medical records of a deceased or incompetent person pursuant to existing statues in the Civil Practice and Remedies Code while deleting existing text relating to the disclosure being for the sole purpose of determining the patient's diagnosis and text referencing the Medical Liability and Insurance Improvement Act of Texas.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2005.