V.T.C.A. Health and Safety Code § 324.051

Department Website

The Department of Health must make available on its website a consumer guide to health care.  The guide must include information on facility pricing practices and the correlation between a facility's average charge for an inpatient admission or outpatient surgical procedure and the actual, billed charge for the admission or procedure.  The guide must also include notice that the average charge for a particular inpatient admission or outpatient surgical procedure will vary from the actual, billed charge for the admission or procedure based on:

• The person’s medical condition;
• Unknown medical conditions;
• Person’s diagnosis and recommended treatments;
• Other factors associated with inpatient admission or outpatient surgical procedure.

The guide must include information to advise consumers that:

• The average charge for an inpatient admission and outpatient surgical procedure may vary by facility;
• The average charge by a facility for an inpatient admission or outpatient surgical procedures will vary from the facility’s costs or the amount the facility will be reimbursed by a health plan;
• The consumer may be personally liable for payment for an inpatient admission, outpatient surgical procedure, or health care service, depending on the consumer’s health benefit plan;
• The consumer should contact the consumer’s health plan for accurate information on structure, benefits, deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and other plan provisions that may impact the consumer’s liability to pay for services;
• An uninsured consumer may be eligible for discounts on the facility’s charges.

The Department must include the following information on the consumer guide website:

• An internet link for consumers to access quality of care data, including the Texas Health Care Information Collection website, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Hospital Compare website, Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations website, and the Texas Hospital Association’s Texas Pricepoint website;
• A disclaimer noting the websites not provided by the state or state agencies.

The Department may accept gifts to fund the consumer guide website, but may not identify or acknowledge donors on the website.