81R1203 YDB-D
By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 466
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to excluding a child from the immunization registry.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 161.007(a), (b), (b-1), (c), (d), (f),
and (k), Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The department, for the primary purpose of establishing
and maintaining a single repository of accurate, complete, and
current immunization records to be used in aiding, coordinating,
and promoting efficient and cost-effective childhood communicable
disease prevention and control efforts, shall establish and
maintain an immunization registry. The executive commissioner of
the Health and Human Services Commission [department] by rule shall
develop guidelines to:
(1) protect the confidentiality of patients in
accordance with Section 159.002, Occupations Code;
(2) inform a parent, managing conservator, or guardian
of each patient younger than 18 years of age about the registry; and
(3) permit [require the written consent of] a parent,
managing conservator, or guardian of a patient younger than 18
years of age to have the patient excluded from [before any
information relating to the patient is included in] the registry[;
[(4) permit a parent, managing conservator, or
guardian of a patient younger than 18 years of age to withdraw
consent for the patient to be included in the registry; and
[(5) determine the process by which consent is
verified, including affirmation by a health care provider, birth
registrar, regional health information exchange, or local
immunization registry that consent has been obtained].
(b) The immunization registry must contain information on
the immunization history that is obtained by the department under:
(1) this section of each person who is younger than 18
years of age [and for whom consent has been obtained in accordance
with guidelines adopted under Subsection (a)];
(2) Section 161.00705 of persons immunized to prepare
for or in response to a declared disaster, public health emergency,
terrorist attack, hostile military or paramilitary action, or
extraordinary law enforcement emergency; and
(3) Section 161.00706 of first responders or their
immediate family members.
(b-1) [The department shall remove from the registry
information for any person for whom consent has been
withdrawn.] The department may not retain individually
identifiable information about any person:
(1) for whom a request to be excluded from the registry
has been received under this section [consent has been withdrawn];
(2) for whom a consent for continued inclusion in the
registry following the end of the declared disaster, public health
emergency, terrorist attack, hostile military or paramilitary
action, or extraordinary law enforcement emergency has not been
received under Section 161.00705(f); or
(3) for whom a request to be removed from the registry
has been received under Section 161.00706(e).
(c) A payor that receives data elements from a health care
provider who administers an immunization to a person younger than
18 years of age shall provide the data elements to the department.
A payor is required to provide the department with only the data
elements the payor receives from a health care provider. The data
elements shall be submitted in a format prescribed by the
department. [The department shall verify consent before including
the reported information in the immunization registry.] The
department may not retain individually identifiable information
about a person for whom the department receives a request to be
excluded from the registry [consent cannot be verified].
(d) A health care provider who administers an immunization
to a person younger than 18 years of age shall provide data elements
regarding an immunization to the department. The data elements
shall be submitted in a format prescribed by the department. [The
department shall verify consent before including the information in
the immunization registry.] The department may not retain
individually identifiable information about a person for whom the
department receives a request to be excluded from the registry
[consent cannot be verified].
(f) The department and health care providers may use the
registry to provide notices by mail, telephone, personal contact,
or other means to a parent, managing conservator, or guardian
regarding the person's [his or her] child or ward who is due or
overdue for a particular type of immunization according to the
department's immunization schedule. The notice must contain
instructions for the parent, managing conservator, or guardian to
request that future notices not be sent and to remove the child's
immunization record from the registry and any registry-related
records. The notice must describe the procedure to report a
violation if a child's immunization record is included in the
registry after requesting exclusion. The department shall consult
with health care providers to determine the most efficient and
cost-effective manner of using the registry to provide those
notices.
(k) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission [board] shall adopt rules to administer this
section.
SECTION 2. Sections 161.0071(a) and (b), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The first time the department receives registry data for
a child [for whom the department has received consent to be included
in the registry,] from a person other than the child's parent,
managing conservator, or guardian, the department shall send a
written notice to the child's parent, managing conservator, or
guardian disclosing:
(1) that providers and payors may be sending the
child's immunization information to the department, but the
department may not keep the information if the parent, managing
conservator, or guardian chooses to exclude the child from the
registry;
(2) the information that is included in the registry;
(3) the persons to whom the information may be
released under Section 161.008(d);
(4) the purpose and use of the registry;
(5) the procedure to exclude a child from the
registry; and
(6) the procedure to report a violation if a parent,
managing conservator, or guardian discovers a child is included in
the registry after exclusion has been requested.
(b) On receipt of a written request to exclude a child's
immunization records from [discovering that consent to be included
in] the registry [has not been granted], the department shall
exclude the child's immunization records from the registry and any
other registry-related department record that individually
identifies the child.
SECTION 3. Sections 161.008(c) and (h), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c) The department may obtain the data constituting an
immunization record for a child from a public health district, a
local health department, the child's parent, managing conservator,
or guardian, a physician to the child, a payor, or any health care
provider licensed or otherwise authorized to administer vaccines.
[The department shall verify consent before including the reported
information in the immunization registry.] The department may not
retain individually identifiable information about a person for
whom the department receives a request to be excluded from the
registry [consent cannot be verified].
(h) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission [board] shall adopt rules to implement this
section.
SECTION 4. Section 161.0107(c), Health and Safety Code, as
added by Chapter 352 (S.B. 204), Acts of the 80th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2007, is amended to read as follows:
(c) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission by rule shall specify:
(1) the fields necessary to populate the immunization
registry[, including a field that indicates the patient's consent
to be listed in the immunization registry has been obtained]; and
(2) the data standards that must be used for
electronic submission of immunization information.
SECTION 5. Sections 161.007(a-1) and (e), Health and Safety
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.