By: Nelson S.B. No. 80
(King of Taylor)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to public health laboratories administered by the
Department of State Health Services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) In this section:
(1) "Department" means the Department of State Health
Services.
(2) "Laboratory" means a public health laboratory
administered by the department.
(b) It is the intent of the legislature that the department
adopt and implement the recommendations developed by the state
auditor's office and described in the report "An Audit Report on the
Department of State Health Services' Public Health Laboratories"
dated September 2010.
(c) The department shall:
(1) resume billing for tests conducted at the South
Texas Laboratory;
(2) review and address, as appropriate, unbilled
activity at the South Texas Laboratory;
(3) establish and implement a process to review and
bill for tests at the South Texas Laboratory that have not yet been
billed;
(4) establish and implement a process to ensure that
Medicaid-eligible services are billed within the required time;
(5) pursue obtaining provider status through the
United States Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services to become
a Medicare provider;
(6) perform and document periodic reconciliations
between the department's billing application and laboratories'
information applications to ensure that billings are complete and
correct;
(7) follow up on and correct all errors identified
during the reconciliations described by Subdivision (6) of this
subsection;
(8) ensure that all laboratory testing records are
properly recorded and retained in a system with proper security
controls, supervisory reviews, and backup procedures;
(9) develop, document, and implement procedures for
setting fees for laboratory services, including updating and
implementing a documented cost allocation methodology that
determines reasonable costs for specific types of tests;
(10) retain all documentation related to fee setting,
including the setting of fees for new tests and any modifications to
existing test fees;
(11) use a documented methodology to set fees for
laboratory services;
(12) analyze the department's costs and update the fee
schedule as needed in accordance with Subsection (c), Section
12.032, Health and Safety Code;
(13) report uncollected accounts receivable balances
for laboratories at the end of each fiscal year, as required by the
comptroller of public accounts;
(14) develop and implement policies and procedures for
disposing of uncollectable accounts receivable and writing off
accounts receivable considered uncollectable in compliance with
the requirements of the office of the attorney general;
(15) develop and implement policies and procedures for
informing laboratory test payors of delinquent accounts;
(16) develop and implement policies and procedures for
tracking submitter billing statement disputes;
(17) continue the implementation of the process to
address submitter billing disputes, including use of the separate
form for submitters to use when submitting claims for the Texas
Health Steps program;
(18) develop and implement a comprehensive inventory
tracking process for laboratories, including documented policies
and procedures that include regular inventory counts and
reconciliations of inventory;
(19) ensure that laboratories are able to quantify the
amount of inventory on hand;
(20) report the amounts of inventory on hand in
laboratories at the end of each fiscal year in the department's
annual financial report;
(21) establish a timeline for completing for
laboratories a continuity of operations plan that includes
agreements to outsource critical operations as needed during an
emergency;
(22) develop and implement procedures to ensure that
laboratories establish a plan to protect specimens submitted for
testing, testing supplies, and laboratory equipment in the event of
an emergency;
(23) develop and implement a process to ensure regular
inspections of laboratories' hazardous materials storage
buildings;
(24) develop and implement a process to track access
to laboratories' inventory storage buildings;
(25) enhance controls over access to laboratories'
information management applications;
(26) develop and implement a process to ensure that
the policies and procedures for information technology in place at
the department, including change management and acceptable use
policies, are communicated and incorporated in the operations of
laboratories;
(27) develop and implement a process to ensure that
installation of software is properly authorized and reviewed before
installation, in accordance with the department's information
technology security policy;
(28) conduct a review of information technology user
access security to ensure that user access is appropriate and is
based on each user's job roles and responsibilities;
(29) develop and implement a process to monitor and
update user access to the department's information technology
applications to ensure that access is appropriate and granted only
to current employees;
(30) review password controls over laboratory
information management applications to ensure that appropriate
password policies have been established on the network and on each
laboratory application; and
(31) develop and perform reconciliation procedures,
including a record total count, to ensure that records are complete
and accurate prior to the transfer of data to the billing
application.
(d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human
Services Commission may adopt rules as necessary to implement this
section.
(e) The department shall submit a report to the governor,
the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of
representatives, and the legislature on the department's progress
under this section not later than September 1, 2012.
(f) This section expires August 31, 2013.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.