SB 288 Unfunded Mandate

June 6, 2007

The Honorable Jane Nelson
Texas Senate
Chair, Senate Health and Human Services Committee
P.O. Box 12068 – Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711

Dear Madame Chair:

Texas hospitals appreciate your work with Rep. Dianne Delisi to craft Senate Bill 288 which establishes an exemplary infection rate reporting system for Texas, a model for the rest of the country. As THA testified before your committee, hospitals support this measure, which includes creation of a permanent Healthcare Associated Infections Advisory Committee to advise the Texas Department of State Health Services on the law’s implementation and monitor the results. Your leadership was critical to the successful passage of this measure.

Unfortunately, funding for TDSHS to implement S.B. 288 was not included in the state budget. As THA testified, the agency cannot implement an effective infection reporting program with available resources. The fiscal note on the original House bill was $2.5 million for the biennium. To comply with the law, Texas hospitals will have to invest in technology and human resources; the state must have adequate resources to collect, analyze and publish the reported data so that useful information results. If the agency cannot do its part because of inadequate resources, then S.B. 288 becomes an unfunded mandate – which THA and the Healthcare Associated Infections Advisory Panel created by the 79th Legislature expressed concern over from the very beginning.

The experience with the Texas Health Care Information Collection demonstrates that without adequate resources, the result is disappointing at best. Infection data is clinical and more complex than financial charge data. Requiring hospitals to collect and submit data that sits in a file helps no one, and in fact drives up the cost of health care.

Texas hospitals ask for your assistance to find state funding for this very important new reporting activity.