85R10101 SCL-F
By: Collier H.B. No. 1832
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to disclosures regarding the provision of services by
certain health care providers in certain health care facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 324.001, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subdivision (8) and adding Subdivisions (9) and
(10) to read as follows:
(8) "Facility-based physician" means an individual
licensed to practice medicine in this state:
(A) to whom the facility has granted clinical
privileges; and
(B) who provides medical or health care services
to patients in the facility under those clinical privileges [a
radiologist, an anesthesiologist, a pathologist, an emergency
department physician, a neonatologist, or an assistant surgeon].
(9) "Facility-based provider" means a facility-based
physician or other health care practitioner who provides medical or
health care services to patients in a facility.
(10) "Health care practitioner" means an individual
issued a license, certificate, or other authorization to provide
health care services. The term does not include a physician.
SECTION 2. Section 324.101(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Each facility shall develop, implement, and enforce
written policies for the billing of facility health care services
and supplies. The policies must address:
(1) any discounting of facility charges to an
uninsured consumer, subject to Chapter 552, Insurance Code;
(2) any discounting of facility charges provided to a
financially or medically indigent consumer who qualifies for
indigent services based on a sliding fee scale or a written charity
care policy established by the facility and the documented income
and other resources of the consumer;
(3) the providing of an itemized statement required by
Subsection (e);
(4) whether interest will be applied to any billed
service not covered by a third-party payor and the rate of any
interest charged;
(5) the procedure for handling complaints;
(6) the providing of a conspicuous written disclosure
to a consumer at the time the consumer is first admitted to the
facility or first receives services at the facility that:
(A) provides confirmation whether the facility
is a participating provider under the consumer's third-party payor
coverage on the date services are to be rendered based on the
information received from the consumer at the time the confirmation
is provided;
(B) informs the consumer that while the consumer
is in the facility, the consumer may receive services from a
facility-based provider due to:
(i) planned or anticipated events or
services;
(ii) facility scheduling conflicts;
(iii) facility staff changes;
(iv) medical complications; or
(v) other reasons associated with the care
of the consumer;
(C) informs the consumer [consumers] that a
facility-based provider [physician] who may provide services to the
consumer while the consumer is in the facility may not be a
participating provider with the same third-party payors as the
facility;
(D) [(C)] informs the consumer [consumers] that
the consumer may receive a bill for [medical] services from a
facility-based provider [physician] for the amount unpaid by the
consumer's health benefit plan;
(E) [(D)] informs the consumer [consumers] that
the consumer may request a listing of facility-based providers
[physicians] who have been granted clinical [medical staff]
privileges to provide medical services or health care services at
the facility that:
(i) includes the contact information of
each provider; and
(ii) identifies each provider by type of
license or other certification, any specialty, and type of clinical
privileges;
(F) [(E)] informs the consumer [consumers] that
the consumer may request information from a facility-based provider
[physician] on whether the provider [physician] has a contract with
the consumer's health benefit plan and under what circumstances the
consumer may be responsible for payment of any amounts not paid by
the consumer's health benefit plan;
(G) informs the consumer that laboratory
services related to the consumer's facility admission, stay, or
services may be provided by a laboratory that may not be a
participating provider with the same third-party payors as the
facility; and
(H) informs the consumer that the consumer may
request from the facility a list of the names and contact
information of the laboratories that typically provide laboratory
services for the facility;
(7) the requirement that a facility provide a list, on
request, to a consumer to be admitted to, or who is expected to
receive services from, the facility, that contains the name and
contact information for each facility-based provider [physician]
or facility-based provider [physician] group that has been granted
clinical [medical staff] privileges to provide medical services or
health care services at the facility; and
(8) if the facility operates a website that includes a
listing of individuals licensed to provide medical services or
health care services [physicians] who have been granted clinical
[medical staff] privileges to provide [medical] services at the
facility, the posting on the facility's website of a list that
contains the name and contact information for each facility-based
provider [physician] or facility-based provider [physician] group
that has been granted clinical [medical staff] privileges to
provide [medical] services at the facility and the updating of the
list in any calendar quarter in which there are any changes to the
list.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
charges for a health care service or supply provided on or after the
effective date of this Act. Charges for a health care service or
supply provided before the effective date of this Act are governed
by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of
this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.