83R3736 AED-D
By: Naishtat H.B. No. 1745
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to suicide reporting by hospitals and emergency medical
care facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 108.002, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subdivisions (1-a) and (8-b) and amending
Subdivisions (8-a) and (12) to read as follows:
(1-a) "Attempted suicide" means a self-inflicted,
destructive act committed with explicit or inferred intent to die.
(8-a) "Emergency medical care facility" means a
freestanding emergency medical care facility licensed under
Chapter 254.
(8-b) "Executive commissioner" means the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission.
(12) "Hospital" means a public, for-profit, or
nonprofit institution licensed or owned by this state that is a
general or special hospital, private mental hospital, chronic
disease hospital, or other type of hospital. The term includes a
hospital's emergency room.
SECTION 2. Chapter 108, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Section 108.0101 to read as follows:
Sec. 108.0101. COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION OF ATTEMPTED
SUICIDE INFORMATION. (a) The department shall collect information
regarding an attempted suicide by a patient examined by a hospital
or emergency medical care facility.
(b) Notwithstanding Sections 108.006(b)(3) and 108.009(f),
a hospital or emergency medical care facility shall submit a report
regarding a patient's attempted suicide not later than the 30th day
after the date the hospital or emergency medical care facility
examines the patient.
(c) Notwithstanding Sections 108.006(b)(3) and 108.009(f),
a hospital or emergency medical care facility shall report to the
department any month when the hospital or facility had zero
attempted suicides during the month. The report must be in the form
prescribed by the department and submitted not later than the 15th
day of the following month.
(d) A person who submits a report of an attempted suicide
under this section or examines or treats an attempted suicide
reported under this section may not be held civilly or criminally
liable for complying with the requirements of this section.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,
reports, records, and information obtained or developed by the
department under this section are confidential and are not subject
to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code, are not subject
to subpoena, and may not otherwise be released or made public except
as provided by this section.
(f) Each quarter, at the request of an agency or
organization with recognized expertise in suicide prevention, the
department shall release information reported under this section,
in the form of a statistical report, to the agency or organization.
The statistical report must be released in a manner that prevents
the identification of any person. The department may charge the
agency or organization a reasonable fee to offset the costs of
releasing the statistical report. The agency or organization may
use information contained in a statistical report received under
this subsection only for suicide prevention purposes.
(g) Information collected under this section may be
released for statistical purposes if released in a manner that
maintains patient confidentiality as provided by Section 108.013.
(h) The executive commissioner may adopt rules necessary to
implement this section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.