MARCH 22, 2023

• Key Texas Legislative, Compliance & Fiduciary Issues (In-Person or Virtual Options Available)

• RAND 5.0 Hospital Transparency Study Now Open to Employers

Thursday, April 6, 2023

8:00 am - 10:30 am CST

The Friedkin Group

1375 Enclave Pkwy

Houston, TX 77077

REASONS TO ATTEND

ALL EMPLOYERS ARE FREE

Highly recommended employers attend with their benefits consultants!

• Learn about the impact of high healthcare prices in Texas on employers, their employees, and their families



• Learn about employer compliance requirements under the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA)

• Learn about critical healthcare legislation impacting employers introduced to the 88th Texas Legislature

• Learn about the growing employer ERISA fiduciary risk

The CAA expands ERISA to require additional transparency into health & welfare benefit plans. With new price transparency access, plan fiduciaries will be held to a higher standard, expected to not only obtain the information, but to review it and make decisions based on the data. What information are your vendors required to disclose? What are compliant and non-compliant disclosures?

The 88^th Texas Legislature is now in session until May 31. Several bills have been filed and assigned to the House Select Committee on Healthcare Reform.  House Bills 711 and 1692 will most impact employers. HB 711 will prohibit current anti-competitive contract language between health plans and hospitals. The include gag clauses, and anti-steering and anti-steering clauses. HB 1692 will prohibit a hospital from charging facility fees for clinics more than 250 yards from the hospital.

Both of these issues will change the landscape for employers. Texas legislation will allow employers and their intermediaries access to data and information to better negotiate contracts. CAA compliance will provide insight into the value their vendors bring to the table. Transparency is there to stay and with it a new light has been shed on employer fiduciary responsibility and the organizational and individual risk it presents.     

AGENDA

• 8:00-8:30    Networking & Registration

• 8:30-9:00    88^th Texas Legislature    
• HB711- Anti-competitive Contract Language
• HB1692 - Site Neutral Payments

• 9:00-9:30   CAA Employer Compliance Requirements
• Removal of gag clauses
• Establishes reporting requirements (i.e. Rx)
• Disclosure of compensation from all service providers
• Parity in substance abuse and mental health benefits

• 9:30-10:00 The Employer’s Role as the Fiduciary

• 10:00-10:30 Questions & Open Discussion

When registering, you will receive a Zoom link regardless of your selection of in-person or virtual

HBCH has supported and assisted Houston employers to participate in the ongoing RAND Hospital Price Transparency studies. Please contact chris.skisak@housotnbch.org for more information.  

Transparency is here to stay and employers will need to know if they are meeting their ERISA fiduciary responsibility.  Come join our discussion on April 6, Key Texas Legislative, Compliance & Fiduciary Issues.

HBCH members value the insight they get from RAND. The following testimonial is common.

Turner Industries Group has found that contributing claims data to the RAND Hospital Cost study to be extremely useful. It allows the company to understand price differential by facility at our high-volume health systems, thereby informing our strategic benefits decisions. - Dan Burke, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Vice President, Corporate Benefits

The RAND Hospital Price Transparency studies began in 2016 and are now collecting employer data for RAND 5.0. RAND 4.0 provided hospital and associated spending data from more than 4,000 hospitals in all states from 2018 to 2020. It costs nothing for an employer to be part of this national study that provides critical data that can inform and drive cost-containment strategies and discussions with consultants, health plans and hospitals. RAND results are also now being used by Texas Legislators to influence policy change. Texas employers pay more the 250% of a fair-priced Medicare rate.

Details of RAND 5.0 show several changes from previous studies, making it even easier for employers to participate. All data contributed to RAND is deidentified and meets all HIPAA confidentiality requirements.  

• Data Use Agreements (DUAs) are now in place for most health plans.

• Just email your interest in joining the study to Brian Briscombe bbriscom@rand.org while cc’ing your health insurance representative stating that you wish to contribute your 1/1/2020 through 12/31/2022 claims data to the Hospital Price Transparency Study.

• Claims data needs to be securely transferred to RAND by 31 August 2023 to be part of the round five study report slated for publication in May 2024.

• Myth-Busting Employee Health and Well-Being: How Companies Can Thrive Despite the Challenges of Chronic Illness, Mental Health, Inequities, and Quiet Quitting - Webinar, March 28, 2023, 12:00-1:00 CDT