Bill Text: TX SB80 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to public health laboratories administered by the Department of State Health Services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-06-17 - Effective immediately [SB80 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-SB80-Enrolled.html
| S.B. No. 80 | ||
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| relating to public health laboratories administered by the | ||
| Department of State Health Services. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. (a) In this section: | ||
| (1) "Department" means the Department of State Health | ||
| Services. | ||
| (2) "Laboratory" means a public health laboratory | ||
| administered by the department. | ||
| (b) It is the intent of the legislature that the department | ||
| adopt and implement the recommendations developed by the state | ||
| auditor's office and described in the report "An Audit Report on the | ||
| Department of State Health Services' Public Health Laboratories" | ||
| dated September 2010. | ||
| (c) The department shall: | ||
| (1) resume billing for tests conducted at the South | ||
| Texas Laboratory; | ||
| (2) review and address, as appropriate, unbilled | ||
| activity at the South Texas Laboratory; | ||
| (3) establish and implement a process to review and | ||
| bill for tests at the South Texas Laboratory that have not yet been | ||
| billed; | ||
| (4) establish and implement a process to ensure that | ||
| Medicaid-eligible services are billed within the required time; | ||
| (5) pursue obtaining provider status through the | ||
| United States Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services to become | ||
| a Medicare provider; | ||
| (6) perform and document periodic reconciliations | ||
| between the department's billing application and laboratories' | ||
| information applications to ensure that billings are complete and | ||
| correct; | ||
| (7) follow up on and correct all errors identified | ||
| during the reconciliations described by Subdivision (6) of this | ||
| subsection; | ||
| (8) ensure that all laboratory testing records are | ||
| properly recorded and retained in a system with proper security | ||
| controls, supervisory reviews, and backup procedures; | ||
| (9) develop, document, and implement procedures for | ||
| setting fees for laboratory services, including updating and | ||
| implementing a documented cost allocation methodology that | ||
| determines reasonable costs for specific types of tests; | ||
| (10) retain all documentation related to fee setting, | ||
| including the setting of fees for new tests and any modifications to | ||
| existing test fees; | ||
| (11) use a documented methodology to set fees for | ||
| laboratory services; | ||
| (12) analyze the department's costs and update the fee | ||
| schedule as needed in accordance with Subsection (c), Section | ||
| 12.032, Health and Safety Code; | ||
| (13) report uncollected accounts receivable balances | ||
| for laboratories at the end of each fiscal year, as required by the | ||
| comptroller of public accounts; | ||
| (14) develop and implement policies and procedures for | ||
| disposing of uncollectable accounts receivable and writing off | ||
| accounts receivable considered uncollectable in compliance with | ||
| the requirements of the office of the attorney general; | ||
| (15) develop and implement policies and procedures for | ||
| informing laboratory test payors of delinquent accounts; | ||
| (16) develop and implement policies and procedures for | ||
| tracking submitter billing statement disputes; | ||
| (17) continue the implementation of the process to | ||
| address submitter billing disputes, including use of the separate | ||
| form for submitters to use when submitting claims for the Texas | ||
| Health Steps program; | ||
| (18) develop and implement a comprehensive inventory | ||
| tracking process for laboratories, including documented policies | ||
| and procedures that include regular inventory counts and | ||
| reconciliations of inventory; | ||
| (19) ensure that laboratories are able to quantify the | ||
| amount of inventory on hand; | ||
| (20) report the amounts of inventory on hand in | ||
| laboratories at the end of each fiscal year in the department's | ||
| annual financial report; | ||
| (21) establish a timeline for completing for | ||
| laboratories a continuity of operations plan that includes | ||
| agreements to outsource critical operations as needed during an | ||
| emergency; | ||
| (22) develop and implement procedures to ensure that | ||
| laboratories establish a plan to protect specimens submitted for | ||
| testing, testing supplies, and laboratory equipment in the event of | ||
| an emergency; | ||
| (23) develop and implement a process to ensure regular | ||
| inspections of laboratories' hazardous materials storage | ||
| buildings; | ||
| (24) develop and implement a process to track access | ||
| to laboratories' inventory storage buildings; | ||
| (25) enhance controls over access to laboratories' | ||
| information management applications; | ||
| (26) develop and implement a process to ensure that | ||
| the policies and procedures for information technology in place at | ||
| the department, including change management and acceptable use | ||
| policies, are communicated and incorporated in the operations of | ||
| laboratories; | ||
| (27) develop and implement a process to ensure that | ||
| installation of software is properly authorized and reviewed before | ||
| installation, in accordance with the department's information | ||
| technology security policy; | ||
| (28) conduct a review of information technology user | ||
| access security to ensure that user access is appropriate and is | ||
| based on each user's job roles and responsibilities; | ||
| (29) develop and implement a process to monitor and | ||
| update user access to the department's information technology | ||
| applications to ensure that access is appropriate and granted only | ||
| to current employees; | ||
| (30) review password controls over laboratory | ||
| information management applications to ensure that appropriate | ||
| password policies have been established on the network and on each | ||
| laboratory application; and | ||
| (31) develop and perform reconciliation procedures, | ||
| including a record total count, to ensure that records are complete | ||
| and accurate prior to the transfer of data to the billing | ||
| application. | ||
| (d) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human | ||
| Services Commission may adopt rules as necessary to implement this | ||
| section. | ||
| (e) The department shall submit a report to the governor, | ||
| the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of | ||
| representatives, and the legislature on the department's progress | ||
| under this section not later than September 1, 2012. | ||
| (f) This section expires August 31, 2013. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2011. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 80 passed the Senate on | ||
| March 24, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| I hereby certify that S.B. No. 80 passed the House on | ||
| May 20, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 149, Nays 0, one | ||
| present not voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| Approved: | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
