TITLE: Relating to birth record information included in certain health care data collection.

SUMMARY: Relating to birth record information included in certain health care data collection.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to birth record information included in certain health care data collection. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 108.002(6), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows: (6) "Data" means information collected under Section 108.0065,108.0066, or 108.009 in the form initially received. SECTION 2. Chapter 108, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 108.0066 to read as follows: Sec. 108.0066. BIRTH RECORD DATA. (a) In this section, "birth record data" means the data associated with the birth of an infant, including: (1) information from the mother's prenatal care visits; (2) the number of previous live births or miscarriages of the mother; (3) the gestational age of the infant; (4) the infant's birth weight; (5) whether the infant is breast-fed in the hospital; and (6) whether the mother smoked during the pregnancy. (b) The department shall collect birth record data under this chapter. The department may coordinate the collection of the data with local registrars and the vital statistics unit of the department. If the department requires additional birth record data, a hospital shall provide to the department the data required by the department in the form required by the department. (c) Dissemination of data collected under this section is subject to Sections 108.010, 108.011, 108.012, 108.013, 108.014, and 108.0141. (d) The department shall include the birth record data collected under this section with hospital inpatient public use data. The department shall cross-reference the birth record data of an infant with the appropriate hospital inpatient data for the patient giving birth to the infant to: (1) increase the accuracy of the data; (2) reduce incomplete data; and (3) support research of maternal and newborn deaths and complications. SECTION 3. Not later than June 1, 2018, the Department of State Health Services shall: (1) collect birth record data described by Section 108.0066, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, for the period beginning January 1, 2010, through the second quarter of the year 2017; (2) cross-reference the birth record data described by Subdivision (1) with the appropriate hospital inpatient public use data as described by Section 108.0066(d), Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act; and (3) incorporate the data described by Subdivisions (1) and (2) into the public use data provided by the department. SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.