AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Health care facilities must currently report the incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), which reports this information to the public. Health care facilities’ reports to DSHS do not currently indicate whether an HAI resulted in a death while hospitalized.
H.B. 3285 seeks to enhance data collection and transparency regarding HAIs in order to help the public make more informed health care decisions. Specifically, H.B. 3285 requires that data submitted by health care facilities to DSHS regarding HAIs specify whether the infection resulted in the death of the patient while hospitalized, and requires DSHS to make this information available to the public.
H.B. 3285 amends current law relating to the reporting of health care associated infections.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission in SECTION 3 of this bill.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 98.103, Health and Safety Code, by adding Subsection (e) to require that a report made under this section (Reportable Infections) specify whether the infection resulted in the death of the patient while hospitalized.
SECTION 2. Amends Section 98.106(a), Health and Safety Code, as follows:
(a) Requires the Department of State Health Services to compile and make available to the public a summary, by health care facility, of:
(1) the infections reported by facilities under Section 98.103, including whether the infections resulted in the death of the patient while hospitalized; and
(2) the preventable adverse events reported by facilities under Section 98.1045 (Reporting of Preventable Adverse Events).
SECTION 3. Requires the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission, as soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, to adopt the rules and procedures necessary to implement the changes made by this Act to Subchapter C, Chapter 98, Health and Safety Code.
SECTION 4. (a) Provides that the change in law made by this Act applies to a report required under Section 98.103, Health and Safety Code, that is made in a reporting period beginning on or after March 1, 2014. Provides that a report made under Section 98.103, Health and Safety Code, during a reporting period that begins before March 1, 2014, is covered by the law in existence on the date the reporting period began, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) Provides that the change in law made by this Act applies to a departmental summary published under Section 98.106, Health and Safety Code, that covers a reporting period beginning on or after March 1, 2014. Provides that a departmental summary that covers a reporting period that begins before March 1, 2014, is covered by the law in existence on the date the reporting period began, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. Effective date: September 1, 2013.