Health care cost transparency database: This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to establish a system to collect health information related to health care cost, quality, and efficiency by January 1, 2022. The bill would direct the office to take a number of actions with respect to developing and implementing the Health Care Cost Transparency Database, including, among other things, ensuring the database can map to other databases, contracting with a data collection vendor, as necessary, collecting and incorporating data from other state and federal agencies, developing and maintaining a master person index, a master provider index, and a master payer index, developing data quality and improvement processes, and developing an information security program to ensure the privacy of individuals and the security of the data collected. The bill would authorize the office to impose a user fee on eligible users of the database in an amount that does not exceed the office’s administrative costs in providing eligible users access to the database.
The bill would define the types of entities that are mandatory submitters that are required to submit specified health care cost data to the office. The bill would direct the office to use moneys appropriated for these purposes in the 2019–20 Budget Act, and would require, once those moneys are exhausted, additional funding be provided from the Managed Care Fund and the Insurance Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would make failure to comply with these provisions a violation of the licensing law governing the noncompliant mandatory submitter, which includes the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975. Because a violation of the licensing provisions governing health care service plans is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.