Bill

SB 384

86(R) - 2019
Senate Health & Human Services
House Public Health
Senate Health & Human Services
House Public Health
Health & Human Services
Healthcare
Hospitals

Vote Recommendation

Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Neutral

Author(s)

Jane Nelson

Sponsor(s)

J.D. Sheffield

Bill Caption

Relating to the reporting of health care-associated infections and preventable adverse events at health care facilities.

Fiscal Notes

Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for SB384, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($460,634) through the biennium ending August 31, 2021. The Health and Human Services Commission is required to implement a provision of this bill only if the Legislature appropriates money specifically for that purpose. If the Legislature does not appropriate money specifically for that purpose, the Health and Human Services Commission may, but is not required to, implement a provision of the bill using other appropriations available for that purpose. The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill. 

Bill Analysis

SB 384 would require any health care facility to report to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) each health care-associated infection that occurs in the facility and that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires a facility participating in the Medicare program to report. The bill would expand reporting requirements beyond just surgical site infections to health care-associated infections generally, and would remove certain exemptions to reporting that currently apply to pediatric and adolescent hospitals.

The bill would additionally dispense with outlining specific categories of infections that must be reported and instead require infections that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require facilities participating in the Medicare program to be reported (regardless of whether the facility participates in Medicare or not). 

Vote Recommendation Notes

Texas Action remains neutral on SB 384 because it does not significantly affect our liberty principles. This bill would merely align the state reporting requirements for health care-associated infections with those currently in place from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid.