By: Menéndez, et al. S.B. No. 2038
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to fees and prices charged by freestanding emergency
medical care facilities; providing administrative penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 254, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 254.1555 to read as follows:
Sec. 254.1555. CERTAIN FEES PROHIBITED. (a) A facility
that provides a health care service, including testing or
vaccination, to an individual accessing the service from the
individual's vehicle may not charge the individual or a third-party
payor a facility or observation fee.
(b) This section may not be construed as expanding the type
of health care services a facility is authorized to provide under
this chapter.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 254, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 254.160 to read as follows:
Sec. 254.160. PROHIBITED PRICING PRACTICES DURING DECLARED
STATE OF DISASTER. (a) In this section, "unconscionable price"
means a price a facility charges for a health care service provided
to an individual in an amount that is more than 200 percent of the
average price charged for the same or a substantially similar
product or service provided to other individuals by health care
facilities located in the same county or nearest county to the
county in which the freestanding emergency medical care facility is
located, as applicable, according to data collected by the
department under Chapter 108.
(b) A facility, during a state of disaster declared under
Chapter 418, Government Code, may not:
(1) charge an individual an unconscionable price for a
product or service provided at the facility; or
(2) knowingly or intentionally charge a third-party
payor, including a health benefit plan insurer, a price higher than
the price charged to an individual for the same product or service
based on the payor's liability for payment or partial payment of the
product or service.
SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 254, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 254.207 to read as follows:
Sec. 254.207. MANDATORY ENFORCEMENT. Notwithstanding any
conflicting provision in this subchapter and except for good cause
shown, the Health and Human Services Commission shall impose the
following on a person licensed under this chapter who violates
Section 254.160 or a rule adopted under that section:
(1) for the first violation, an administrative penalty
in an amount equal to $10,000;
(2) for the second violation:
(A) an administrative penalty in an amount equal
to $50,000; and
(B) a suspension of the person's license for 30
days; and
(3) for the third violation, a permanent revocation of
the person's license.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.