Bill Text: AZ HB2384 | 2022 | Fifty-fifth Legislature 2nd Regular | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Health care; real-time communication; grants

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-03 - House HHS Committee action: Withdrawn, voting: (0-0-0-0-0-0) [HB2384 Detail]

Download: Arizona-2022-HB2384-Introduced.html

---

 

 

 

REFERENCE TITLE: health care; real-time communication; grants

 

 

 

 

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-fifth Legislature

Second Regular Session

2022

 

 

 

HB 2384

 

Introduced by

Representative Kaiser

 

 

AN ACT

 

Amending Title 41, chapter 4, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 41-703.01; repealing section 41-703.01, Arizona Revised Statutes; appropriating monies; relating to the department of administration.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 41, chapter 4, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-703.01, to read:

START_STATUTE41-703.01. Competitive grant program; technology solution; patient continuity of care; hospital interconnectivity; annual report

A. The department, in consultation with the Arizona health care cost containment system, shall administer a three-year competitive grant program that will provide a technology solution to support hospitals, health care providers and teleconsulting initiatives.  In order to further health care accountability and reduce health care costs, the technology solution shall provide data to update cost reports to enhance emergency triage and to treat and transport patients.  The department shall award the first grants under this program not later than December 31, 2022.

B. The grant program shall enable the IMPLEMENTATION of a technology solution for hospitals, health care providers and patients that wish to participate by enabling a hospital's electronic medical records system to interface with other electronic medical records systems, promoting connectivity between hospital systems and facilitating increased communication between hospital staff that use different or distinctive online platforms and information systems when treating patients. The grant program shall promote a technology solution that, at a minimum:

1. Complies with the health insurance portability and accountability act privacy standards (45 Code of Federal Regulations part 160 and part 164, subpart E).

2. Captures and forwards clinical data, including laboratory results and images, and provides synchronous patient clinical data to health care providers regardless of geographic location.

3. Provides a synchronous data exchange that is not batched or delayed at the point the clinical data is captured and available in the hospital's electronic record system.

4. Is capable of providing proactive alerts to health care providers.

5. Allows both synchronous and asynchronous communication.

6. has patient-centric communication and is tracked with date and time stamping.

7. Is connected to the appropriate physician resources.

C. On or before July 1 of each full fiscal year of the grant program, The grant recipient shall provide to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the chairpersons of the health and human services committees of the senate and the house of representatives and the directors of the department of administration and the Arizona health care cost containment system a report that provides metrics and quantifies cost and time savings and complies with the health insurance portability and accountability act privacy standards (45 Code of Federal Regulations part 160 and part 164, subpart E).END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Repeal

Section 41-703.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, is repealed from and after June 30, 2026.

Sec. 3. Appropriations; department of administration; hospital interconnectivity grants; exemption

A. The sum of $12,000,000 is appropriated from the state general fund in each of fiscal years 2022-2023, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 to the department of administration to provide hospital interconnectivity grants over a three-year period to a grant recipient pursuant to section 41-703.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, as added by this act, to facilitate increased communication between health care providers while treating patients in this state.

B. The appropriations made in subsection A of this section are exempt from the provisions of section 35-190, Arizona Revised Statutes, relating to lapsing of appropriations, except that any monies remaining unexpended and unencumbered on June 30, 2026 revert to the state general fund.

Sec. 4. Legislative intent

The Legislature intends to create a competitive grant program to provide this state's hospital systems with technology to facilitate streamlined communications between electronic health record providers and to further connect rural providers with regional hospitals to reduce unnecessary health care costs, reduce overtriage and demonstrate to the centers for medicare and medicaid services the costs savings associated with efficient hospital operations.