81R14537 KLA-F
By: Nelson S.B. No. 2032
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to hospitals' submission of uncompensated hospital care
data and hospital audits related to federal funding provided for
that care.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. The heading to Section 531.551, Government Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 531.551. UNCOMPENSATED HOSPITAL CARE REPORTING AND
ANALYSIS; HOSPITAL AUDIT FEE.
SECTION 2. Section 531.551, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsections (a-1),
(a-2), and (m) to read as follows:
(a) Using data submitted to the Department of State Health
Services under Subsection (a-1), the [The] executive commissioner
shall adopt rules providing for:
(1) a standard definition of "uncompensated hospital
care" that reflects unpaid costs incurred by hospitals and accounts
for actual hospital costs and hospital charges and revenue sources;
(2) a methodology to be used by hospitals in this state
to compute the cost of that care that incorporates the standard set
of adjustments described by Section 531.552(g)(4); and
(3) procedures to be used by those hospitals to report
the cost of that care to the commission and to analyze that cost.
(a-1) To assist the executive commissioner in adopting and
amending the rules required by Subsection (a), the Department of
State Health Services shall require each hospital in this state to
provide to the department, not later than a date specified by the
department, uncompensated hospital care data prescribed by the
commission. Each hospital must submit complete and adequate data,
as determined by the department, not later than the specified date.
(a-2) The Department of State Health Services shall notify
the commission of each hospital in this state that fails to submit
complete and adequate data required by the department under
Subsection (a-1) on or before the date specified by the department.
Notwithstanding any other law and to the extent allowed by federal
law, the commission may withhold Medicaid program reimbursements
owed to the hospital until the hospital complies with the
requirement.
(d) If the commission determines through the procedures
adopted under Subsection (b) that a hospital submitted a report
described by Subsection (a)(3) with incomplete or inaccurate
information, the commission shall notify the hospital of the
specific information the hospital must submit and prescribe a date
by which the hospital must provide that information. If the
hospital fails to submit the specified information on or before the
date prescribed by the commission, the commission shall notify the
attorney general of that failure. On receipt of the notice, the
attorney general shall impose an administrative penalty on the
hospital in an amount not to exceed $10,000. In determining the
amount of the penalty to be imposed, the attorney general shall
consider:
(1) the seriousness of the violation;
(2) whether the hospital had previously committed a
violation; and
(3) the amount necessary to deter the hospital from
committing future violations.
(m) The commission may require each hospital that is
required under 42 C.F.R. Section 455.304 to be audited to pay a fee
in an amount equal to the costs incurred in conducting the audit.
SECTION 3. As soon as possible after the date the Department
of State Health Services requires each hospital in this state to
initially submit uncompensated hospital care data under Section
531.551(a-1), Government Code, as added by this Act, the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall
adopt rules or amendments to existing rules that conform to the
requirements of Section 531.551(a), Government Code, as amended by
this Act.
SECTION 4. If before implementing any provision of this Act
a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a
federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision,
the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or
authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the
waiver or authorization is granted.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.