Welcome to your daily briefing on healthcare developments in Texas. Today we're covering 8 key stories including updates on texas healthcare headlines, background & context. Let's dive in.
5 stories
CMS has an updated (as of February 22, 2016) fact sheet for the Moratoria Provider Services and Utilization Data Tool.
For TX healthcare professionals, this provides a CMS data source relevant to tracking provider services and utilization patterns in the moratoria context.
Texas has outlined Facility Reporting Requirements in its Health Care Information Collection resources to help healthcare professionals obtain the data needed to improve Texans’ health.
This gives TX healthcare professionals a clear source for facility data access that supports quality improvement and population health work across Texas.
Texas Health Data Research and Reports is a compiled collection of health data resources that includes Health Care Facility Reports and community-level health information.
For healthcare professionals in TX, this provides a centralized reference for local facility and community data needed for clinical planning and population-health work.
Texas’ Look Up a License tool from the Texas Medical Board provides searchable license and permit information for TX healthcare professionals, including physician profiles and verification details across physicians, physician assistants, acupuncturists, medical radiological technologists, non-certified radiologic technicians, respiratory care practitioners, medical physicists, perfusionists, and pain management clinics, with Board actions such as remedial plans or cease-and-desist notices visible where applicable.
For TX healthcare professionals and organizations, this offers a current, daily-updated way to confirm credentials and identify any license actions before hiring, credentialing, or relying on a colleague’s standing.
Texas Health Facility Data describes the Health Data Store’s custom reporting access to all Texas hospital discharges and hospital and ASC outpatient visits, including patients covered by commercial, government, and other payors.
For healthcare professionals in TX, this centralized facility and payor dataset can support internal benchmarking, operations planning, and care delivery analysis.
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3 stories
Covered entities must annually recertify their 340B eligibility through HRSA. Missing the recertification window pushes the entity to inactive status, which means immediate loss of 340B pricing and potentially diversion violations on previously dispensed drugs. Reinstatement requires a new application.
The discount value of 340B pricing for a covered entity often exceeds six figures annually. Letting the recertification lapse for paperwork reasons is one of the most expensive administrative errors in the regulation.
A vendor is a business associate if they create, receive, maintain, or transmit PHI on behalf of the covered entity. They are NOT a business associate just because they happen to be in a building with PHI or could conceivably access it. The functional test matters, not the proximity test.
Forcing BAA execution on vendors who do not meet the functional test creates contractual bloat and weakens the negotiating position with vendors who actually do. Failing to execute BAAs with true business associates exposes the covered entity to OCR enforcement.
OSHA inspections of healthcare facilities most commonly find three violations: an Exposure Control Plan that has not been reviewed annually (date-stamped review required), engineering controls that have not been re-evaluated when new devices are introduced, and post-exposure protocols that do not match the actual reporting workflow.
Each citation carries per-violation penalties, and willful or repeat designations multiply them. Re-evaluation paperwork is the cheapest control to maintain.
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