By: Brown of Brazos H.B. No. 103

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the operation of certain health benefit plans through student health centers of certain institutions of higher education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. The heading to Section 51.953, Education Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 51.953. [CERTAIN REVENUE RECEIVED FROM] STUDENT HEALTH CENTER [SERVICES].

SECTION 2. Section 51.953, Education Code, is amended by adding Subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:

(c) A student health center of an institution of higher education with a total student enrollment of more than 8,000 students in one or more semesters of the preceding academic year shall assist a student or other person entitled to obtain health care services through the health center in receiving benefits under a health benefit plan in which the student or other person is an enrollee by filing or having a claim filed with the issuer of the health benefit plan on behalf of the student or other person. The institution may contract with a third-party billing service to provide the assistance required by this subsection.

(d) An institution of higher education, on behalf of the institution's student health center, may contract with a health benefit plan issuer that engages in the business of insurance in the health service region established by the Department of State Health Services in which the institution is located to provide a health benefit plan under which health care services are provided to students or other persons entitled to obtain health care services through the student health center who are covered by the plan.

(e) An institution of higher education must enter into contracts with at least three of the largest health benefit plan issuers that engage in the business of insurance in the health service region established by the Department of State Health Services in which the institution is located under which the institution's student health center:

(1) serves as a preferred provider under the preferred provider benefit plans operated by the issuers; or

(2) operates as a provider of in-network coverage under the health maintenance organizations operated by the issuers.

(f) An institution of higher education may authorize the institution's student health center to accept a student's medical services fee, as charged by the institution under Chapter 54, as payment toward:

(1) a copayment;

(2) a deductible; or

(3) a charge for a service not covered by the student's health benefit plan.

(g) Money received by the student health center as a result of a claim filed by or on behalf of a student through a health benefit plan shall be retained for use by the student health center.

(h) Not later than January 15 of each year, the governing board of an institution of higher education shall report to the legislature the amount of the following sources of income for funding the institution's student health center:

(1) money received from student fees and charges;

(2) money received from the operation of the student health center's pharmacy;

(3) money received as a result of a claim filed by or on behalf of the institution's student health center under a health benefit plan sponsored by or administered on behalf of the institution; and

(4) money received as a result of a claim filed by or on behalf of the institution's student health center under a health benefit plan other than a plan sponsored by or administered on behalf of the institution.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.