Texas 2019 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3934 Introduced / Bill

Filed 03/07/2019

                    86R7123 SCL-D
 By: Frank H.B. No. 3934


 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 AN ACT
 relating to the authority of rural hospitals to establish a health
 care collaborative.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 SECTION 1.  Section 848.001, Insurance Code, is amended by
 amending Subdivision (2) and adding Subdivision (10) to read as
 follows:
 (2)  "Health care collaborative" means an entity:
 (A)  that undertakes to arrange for medical and
 health care services for insurers, health maintenance
 organizations, and other payors in exchange for payments in cash or
 in kind;
 (B)  that accepts and distributes payments for
 medical and health care services;
 (C)  that consists of:
 (i)  physicians;
 (ii)  rural hospitals;
 (iii) physicians and other health care
 providers;
 (iv) [(iii)] physicians and insurers or
 health maintenance organizations; or
 (v) [(iv)]  physicians, other health care
 providers, and insurers or health maintenance organizations; and
 (D)  that is certified by the commissioner under
 this chapter to lawfully accept and distribute payments to
 physicians and other health care providers using the reimbursement
 methodologies authorized by this chapter.
 (10)  "Rural hospital" means a licensed hospital with
 75 beds or fewer that:
 (A)  is located in a county with a population of
 50,000 or less; or
 (B)  has been designated by the Centers for
 Medicare and Medicaid Services as a critical access hospital, rural
 referral center, or sole community hospital.
 SECTION 2.  Section 848.052, Insurance Code, is amended by
 adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
 (c-1)  If the participants in a health care collaborative are
 all rural hospitals, each member of the board of directors must be a
 representative of a participant.
 SECTION 3.  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, 2019.