2007 Legislative Compendium: Health Information Technology

The trend across the United States is to find a way to make the health care system more efficient. Popular thought is that the health care system needs to deliver safer, higher-quality care in a more cost-effective manner. The magic bullet is to develop a standardized, secure electronic health information infrastructure that ensures health care providers have access to clinically relevant information at the point of care. These goals, if met, have the potential to benefit all of the stakeholders in the health care system - payers, providers, and consumers. The 80 th Legislature considered a number of proposals, two of which passed that have a significant impact on medicine.

Statewide Entity Created to Develop Infrastructure for Electronic Health Records
House Bill 1066 by Rep. Diane Delisi (R-Temple) and Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Lewisville) establishes the Texas Health Care Services Authority. The authority would plan and coordinate the framework for the development of a seamless and interoperable electronic health record system. The entity will lay the groundwork by bringing together public and private stakeholders in a partnership to foster common data standards, cooperative arrangements, and interoperability. Oversight of the authority would consist of an 11-member Board of Directors appointed by the governor. The board must include individuals representing consumers, clinical laboratories, health benefit plans, hospitals, regional health information exchange initiatives, pharmacies, physicians, rural health providers, or other entities who possess expertise in any other area the governor finds necessary for the successful operation of the corporation.

EMR Interface With Immunization Registry
Senate Bill 204 by Senator Nelson and Representative Delisi would require vendors selling, leasing, or providing an electronic medical records software package to physicians to have the ability to electronically interface and generate electronic reports containing the fields necessary to populate the state's immunization registry, ImmTrac.

HIT TMA Staff Team:

Legislative: Dan Finch
Policy: Michael Reed and  Shannon Moore
Legal: C.J. Francisco and Lee Spangler

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Last Updated On

July 23, 2010

Originally Published On

March 23, 2010