BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1925

By: Harless

County Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

In 2019, legislation was enacted providing for the Harris County Hospital District's health care provider participation program. Under the program, nonpublic hospitals agree to the imposition of an assessment on their total net patient revenues which is matched with federal Medicaid dollars that are paid to the hospitals to supplement below-cost Medicaid payments. Like most of these programs, the district's program has an expiration date which needs to be extended for the program's continuance. C.S.H.B. 1925 seeks to address this issue by providing for such continuance until December 31, 2025.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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

C.S.H.B. 1925 amends the Health and Safety Code to postpone from December 31, 2023, to December 31, 2025, the expiration of the authority of the Harris County Hospital District to administer and operate a health care provider participation program and the expiration of related statutory provisions.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1925 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute omits provisions from the introduced that did the following:

· revised a requirement relating to financial and utilization data reporting by an institutional health care provider to the district;

· authorized the district's board of hospital managers to request that the Health and Human Services Commission submit a request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for certain relief;

· established that provisions governing the district's program do not authorize the board to impose a bed tax or any other tax under state law;

· changed the nature of the program's mandatory payment from being assessed on net patient revenue to being assessed on a qualifying assessment basis, provided for the determination of that basis, and made related changes, including those relating to the determination of the amount of a mandatory payment and the maximum aggregate amount of those payments; and

· required the district to impose and collect interest and penalties on delinquent mandatory payments.