| Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral |
HHSC has indicated that, while implementation of the bill could result in a fiscal impact to HHSC a specific estimate is not available. The number of exchanges out of compliance with national standards is unknown and HHSC does not have the information necessary to make appropriate assumptions to determine the fiscal impact.
The fiscal impact of reimbursing providers of health care services can not be determined due to the unknown number of providers seeking reimbursement. HHSC has indicated that there may be some fiscal impact for receiving data through health information exchanges.
There may be a cost to local governments depending on the systems used to exchange or report data. Fiscal impact will vary depending on the local health department's available resources.
The bill would amend Chapter 531 of the Government Code to require the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to ensure that all information systems available for use by health and human services agencies are compliant with the applicable data exchange standards developed by an organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute. The bill gives HHSC the authority to develop rules and implement a system to reimburse providers of health care services under the state Medicaid program for review and transmission of electronic health information if feasible and cost-effective.
The bill would amend the Health and Safety Code to add reporting of certain provided immunizations and health related conditions by health care providers to HHSC and creates a criminal offense. The bill repeals the expiration on Medicaid reimbursement for home telemonitoring services of September 1, 2015.
5/25/2015 update:
The bill was amended on the Senate floor, but we still remain neutral on HB 2641.
The second chambers sponsor is Senator Schwertner.
First chamber recommendation below:
We approve of the provisions of this legislation that encourage standards for electronic health information and repealing the expiration of reimbursement for home telemonitoring.
We oppose the provision creating a new Class A misdemeanor which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail.
Balancing these factors against eachother we are neutral.