Amend HB 2917 (Senate committee report version), by inserting
the following and renumbering the subsequent sections
appropriately:
SECTION ____. Subdivision (7), Section 108.002, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(7) "Department" means the [Texas] Department of State
Health Services.
SECTION ____. Chapter 108, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Section 108.0026 to read as follows:
Sec. 108.0026. TRANSFER OF DUTIES; REFERENCE TO COUNCIL.
(a) The powers and duties of the Texas Health Care Information
Council under this chapter were transferred to the Department of
State Health Services in accordance with Section 1.19, Chapter 198
(H.B. 2292), Acts of the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003.
(b) In this chapter, a reference to the Texas Health Care
Information Council means the Department of State Health Services.
SECTION ____. Subsection (h), Section 108.009, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(h) The department [council] shall coordinate data
collection with the data submission formats used by hospitals and
other providers. The department [council] shall accept data in the
format developed by the American National Standards Institute
[National Uniform Billing Committee (Uniform Hospital Billing Form
UB 92) and HCFA-1500] or its successor [their successors] or other
nationally [universally] accepted standardized forms that
hospitals and other providers use for other complementary purposes.
SECTION ____. Section 108.013, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (g), (i), and
(j) and adding Subsections (k), (l), (m), and (n) to read as
follows:
(a) The data received by the department under this chapter
[council] shall be used by the department [council] for the benefit
of the public. Subject to specific limitations established by this
chapter and executive commissioner [council] rule, the department
[council] shall make determinations on requests for information in
favor of access.
(b) The executive commissioner [council] by rule shall
designate the characters to be used as uniform patient identifiers.
The basis for assignment of the characters and the manner in which
the characters are assigned are confidential.
(c) Unless specifically authorized by this chapter, the
department [council] may not release and a person or entity may not
gain access to any data obtained under this chapter:
(1) that could reasonably be expected to reveal the
identity of a patient;
(2) that could reasonably be expected to reveal the
identity of a physician;
(3) disclosing provider discounts or differentials
between payments and billed charges;
(4) relating to actual payments to an identified
provider made by a payer; or
(5) submitted to the department under this chapter
[council] in a uniform submission format that is not included in the
public use data set established under Sections 108.006(f) and (g),
except in accordance with Section 108.0135.
(d) Except as provided by this section, all [All] data
collected and used by the department [and the council] under this
chapter is subject to the confidentiality provisions and criminal
penalties of:
(1) Section 311.037;
(2) Section 81.103; and
(3) Section 159.002, Occupations Code.
(g) Unless specifically authorized by this chapter, the
department [The council] may not release data elements in a manner
that will reveal the identity of a patient. The department
[council] may not release data elements in a manner that will reveal
the identity of a physician.
(i) Notwithstanding any other law, the [council and the]
department may not provide information made confidential by this
section to any other agency of this state.
(j) The executive commissioner [council] shall by rule[,
with the assistance of the advisory committee under Section
108.003(g)(5),] develop and implement a mechanism to comply with
Subsections (c)(1) and (2).
(k) The department may disclose data collected under this
chapter that is not included in public use data to any program
within the department if the disclosure is reviewed and approved by
the institutional review board under Section 108.0135.
(l) Confidential data collected under this chapter that is
disclosed to a program within the department remains subject to the
confidentiality provisions of this chapter and other applicable
law. The department shall identify the confidential data that is
disclosed to a program under Subsection (k). The program shall
maintain the confidentiality of the disclosed confidential data.
(m) The following provisions do not apply to the disclosure
of data to a department program:
(1) Section 81.103;
(2) Sections 108.010(g) and (h);
(3) Sections 108.011(e) and (f);
(4) Section 311.037; and
(5) Section 159.002, Occupations Code.
(n) Nothing in this section authorizes the disclosure of
physician identifying data.
SECTION ____. Section 108.0135, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 108.0135. INSTITUTIONAL [SCIENTIFIC] REVIEW BOARD
[PANEL]. (a) The department [council] shall establish an
institutional [a scientific] review board [panel] to review and
approve requests for access to data not contained in [information
other than] public use data. The members of the institutional
review board must [panel shall] have experience and expertise in
ethics, patient confidentiality, and health care data.
(b) To assist the institutional review board [panel] in
determining whether to approve a request for information, the
executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission
[council] shall adopt rules similar to the federal Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services' [Health Care Financing
Administration's] guidelines on releasing data.
(c) A request for information other than public use data
must be made on the form prescribed [created] by the department
[council].
(d) Any approval to release information under this section
must require that the confidentiality provisions of this chapter be
maintained and that any subsequent use of the information conform
to the confidentiality provisions of this chapter.
SECTION ____. Subdivision (5), Section 108.002, Health and
Safety Code, is repealed.