Alabama Administrative Code › Title 410 - STATE HEALTH PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY › Chapter 410-2-1 - INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH PLANNING › Section 410-2-1-.05 - Data Collection And Publication

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) Efficient health planning and Certificate
			 of Need decisions are dependent upon the availability of reliable health care
			 data. Accurate inventories of existing resources and accurate utilization
			 statistics are required in the State Health Plan to continue accurately
			 projecting the need for additional health care facilities, equipment, and
			 services that are subject to regulation herein.
(2) In 2015 the Alabama Health Planning
			 Facilitation Act ("Act") was enacted. The Act was written to "...provide for
			 certain mandatory health care reporting to SHPDA, to designate the SHPDA as the
			 agency to collect, compile, and analyze the collected reports; to establish and
			 provide for the membership of the Health Care Information and Data [Advisory]
			 Council; to require that the SHPDA, after receiving advice and guidance from
			 the council, adopt rules to implement this act; to provide for penalties for
			 failure [to] make the required reports; and to require the SHPDA to meet
			 certain deadlines or lose its authority to require the reporting." The Health
			 Care Information and Data Advisory Council ("HCIDAC") consists of
			 representatives of CON authorized providers, the Statewide Health Coordinating
			 Council, and the Certificate of Need Review Board, and has authority to review
			 the survey instruments used by the Agency to collect utilization data from
			 "mandatory reporters" as defined by rule, and to review and authorize
			 publication of data collected by the Agency in furtherance of its mission. The
			 Act further provided for the development and implementation of an electronic
			 filing system for mandatory reports by providers with the Agency.
(3) The HCIDAC, in conjunction with the CON
			 Review Board and the Agency, developed new rules defining a "mandatory
			 reporter"; reviewed and revised the survey instruments used by mandatory
			 reporters to submit utilization data to the Agency; and defined electronic
			 filing, for the purposes of the rule, as e-mailing completed mandatory reports
			 to an e-mail address specifically created by the Agency for use in processing
			 said reports. Amended rules related to the Act, including the new survey
			 instruments, were approved by the CON Review Board in January 2016. Additional
			 rules regarding enforcement of the mandate, including administrative penalties
			 and the ability to bar providers deemed noncompliant from participating in the
			 CON process, were also approved. The HCIDAC further directed the Agency to
			 research the development and implementation of an online filing system for the
			 submission of both mandatory reports and for filings related to the Certificate
			 of Need program in general in order to increase both the efficiency and the
			 transparency of all interactions with the Agency.
(4) SHPDA, at the direction of the HCIDAC, is
			 working with the Alabama Office of Information Technology ("OIT") to develop
			 and implement an online filing system that will address all filings made with
			 the Agency. The system will also allow for the purchase of copies of documents
			 previously filed with the Agency, including CON applications, mandatory
			 reports, etc. The system, once developed, is expected to be implemented in
			 three stages.
(a) Stage one will require that
			 all new projects (CON applications, letters of non-reviewability, changes of
			 ownership, etc.), shall be filed through the new system, and will allow for
			 users to become familiar with the new system while other components are
			 developed.
(b) Stage two will
			 require all new mandatory reports be filed through the online system. During
			 the implementation of stages one and two, existing projects and older data
			 collections shall continue to be filed via e-mail, to allow for consistency of
			 filings, as well as to allow time for SHPDA staff to add older documentation
			 and data to the system.
(c) Stage
			 three will require that ALL filings with the Agency occur through the new
			 system, as all existing active project files and active data collections are
			 expected to be completely uploaded by this time.