The bill would allow providers to choose not to send patient data to the Texas Health Care Information Collection, the statistics-gathering arm of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The law currently requires hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, radiology centers and health maintenance organizations to send patient data to the state. That information is then stripped of identifying information and potentially sold to third parties who conduct market research or collect information about their competitors.
Ms. King says the mandate places an unnecessary burden on providers and does not believe the state should make money from “collecting and selling information without the patient’s knowledge,” according to the report. The bill was slated to be discussed before the Public Health Committee on March 23 but was postponed when the committee broke to attend the full House’s debate on voter identification legislation.
It is currently unclear whether the Public Health Committee will reconvene to discuss the proposed legislation.
Read more on state bills:
–Hospitals Oppose Hospital Bill to Reduce Hospital Violence
–New Jersey Bill Would Create Medicaid ACOs
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