ARIZONA STATE SENATE
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LIAM M MAHER |
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LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE Telephone: (602) 926-3171 |
RESEARCH STAFF
TO: MEMBERS OF THE SENATE
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
DATE: March 11, 2022
SUBJECT: Strike everything amendment to H.B. 2201, relating to healthcare; interoperability; grants; appropriation
Purpose
Requires the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) to administer a three-year competitive grant program (Program) that provides an interoperability software technology solution to support health care centers for the purpose of reducing public and private health care costs and unnecessary transportation costs. Appropriates $12,000,000 from the state General Fund (state GF) in FYs 2023, 2024 and 2025 to ADOA for the Program.
Background
The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), enacted on August 21, 1996, requires the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to publicize standards for the electronic exchange, privacy and security of health information.
The strike-everything amendment to H.B. 2201 appropriates $12,000,000 from the state GF in FYs 2023, 2024 and 2025 to ADOA.
Provisions
1. Requires ADOA to administer the Program, which provides an interoperability software technology solution to support rural hospitals, health care providers and urban trauma centers for the purpose of reducing public and private health care costs and unnecessary transportation costs.
2. Requires ADOA to award the first grant by December 31, 2022.
3. Requires the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) to work with ADOA to supplement the grant monies by identifying and applying to receive federal matching monies.
4. Requires the Program to enable the implementation of an interoperability software technology solution that is shared by hospitals and health care providers to benefit patients before and after a patient is discharged from the provider's care.
5. Requires the software to be made available to rural hospitals, health care providers and urban trauma centers that want to participate by:
a) enabling a hospital's electronic medical records system to interface with other electronic medical records systems;
b) promoting connectivity between hospital systems; and
c) facilitating increased communication between hospital staff and providers that use different or distinctive online platforms and information systems when treating patients.
6. Requires ADOA to award grants for an interoperability software technology solution that at a minimum:
a) complies with HIPAA;
b) captures and forwards clinical data that includes laboratory results and images and provides synchronous patient clinical data to health care providers regardless of location;
c) provides a synchronous data exchange that is not batched or delayed at the point the clinical data is captured and available in the hospital's electronic record system;
d) capable of providing proactive alerts to health care providers;
e) allows both synchronous and asynchronous communication;
f) has a patient-centric communication and is tracked with a date and time stamp;
g) is connected to the appropriate physician resources; and
h) provides data to update cost reports to enhance emergency triage and to treat and transport patients.
7. Requires the Program and recipients, by July 1 of each fiscal year, to provide a report of metrics that quantifies cost and time savings and complies with HIPAA to the President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, chairpersons of the Senate and House of Representatives Health and Human Services committees, Director of ADOA and Director of AHCCCS.
8. Repeals the Program on June 30, 2026.
9. Appropriates $12,000,000 from the state GF in FYs 2023, 2024 and 2025 to ADOA to provide grants for the Program.
10. Exempts the appropriation from lapsing.
11. Contains a legislative intent clause.
12. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
