Bill Text: TX HB2797 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to prices charged by freestanding emergency medical care facilities during a declared state of disaster; providing administrative penalties.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-21 - Left pending in committee [HB2797 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB2797-Introduced.html
87R6108 SRA-D | ||
By: Dean | H.B. No. 2797 |
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relating to prices charged by freestanding emergency medical care | ||
facilities during a declared state of disaster; providing | ||
administrative penalties. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 254, Health and Safety | ||
Code, is amended by adding Section 254.1555 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 254.1555. DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN PRICES DURING DECLARED | ||
DISASTER. A facility that provides testing or vaccination for an | ||
infectious disease based on a state of disaster declared under | ||
Chapter 418, Government Code, shall disclose the price the facility | ||
charges for the test or vaccine: | ||
(1) verbally, in an audible and intelligible manner, | ||
to an individual before the facility provides the test or vaccine; | ||
and | ||
(2) on the facility's Internet website. | ||
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 254, Health and Safety | ||
Code, is amended by adding Section 254.160 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 254.160. PROHIBITED PRICING PRACTICES DURING DECLARED | ||
STATE OF DISASTER. (a) In this section, "unconscionable price" | ||
means a price that is more than 200 percent of the average price for | ||
the same or a substantially similar product or service provided to | ||
other individuals by health care facilities located in the same | ||
county or nearest county to the county in which the freestanding | ||
emergency medical care facility is located, as applicable, | ||
according to data collected by the department under Chapter 108. | ||
(b) A facility, during a state of disaster declared by the | ||
governor under Chapter 418, Government Code, may not: | ||
(1) charge an individual an unconscionable price for a | ||
product or service provided at the facility; or | ||
(2) knowingly or intentionally charge a third-party | ||
payor, including a health benefit plan insurer, a price higher than | ||
the price charged to an individual for the same product or service | ||
based on the payor's liability for payment or partial payment of the | ||
product or service. | ||
SECTION 3. Subchapter E, Chapter 254, Health and Safety | ||
Code, is amended by adding Section 254.207 to read as follows: | ||
Sec. 254.207. MANDATORY ENFORCEMENT. Notwithstanding any | ||
conflicting provision in this subchapter and except for good cause | ||
shown, the Health and Human Services Commission shall impose the | ||
following on a person licensed under this chapter who violates | ||
Section 254.160 or a rule adopted under that section: | ||
(1) for the first violation, an administrative penalty | ||
in an amount equal to $10,000; | ||
(2) for the second violation: | ||
(A) an administrative penalty in an amount equal | ||
to $50,000; and | ||
(B) a suspension of the person's license for 30 | ||
days; and | ||
(3) for the third violation, a permanent revocation of | ||
the person's license. | ||
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |