CHAPTER 131 SENATE BILL No. 555 An Act concerning health care data; relating to the health care data governing board; voting
status of governmental members; collection of data; amending K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-
6801, 65-6803 and 65-6804 and repealing the existing sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:

      Section  1. K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6803 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 65-6803. (a) There is hereby created a health care data governing
board.

      (b) The board shall consist of nine twelve members appointed as fol-
lows: One member shall be appointed by the Kansas medical society,
one member shall be appointed by the Kansas hospital association, one
member shall be appointed by the executive vice chancellor of the uni-
versity of Kansas school of medicine, one member who is a licensed pro-
fessional nurse appointed by the Kansas state nurses association, one
member representing health care insurers or other commercial payors
shall be appointed by the governor, one member representing adult care
homes shall be appointed by the governor, one member representing the
Kansas health institute, one member appointed by the state board of
regents representing the health services research community and one
member representing consumers of health care shall be appointed by the
governor. The secretary of health and environment, or the designee of
the secretary, shall be a nonvoting member who shall serve as chairperson
of the board. The and along with the secretary of social and rehabilitation
services and the insurance commissioner, or their designees, shall be non-
voting voting members of the board. Board members and task force mem-
bers shall not be paid compensation, subsistence allowances, mileage or
other expenses as otherwise may be authorized by law for attending meet-
ings, or subcommittee meetings, of the board. The members appointed
to the board shall serve for three-year terms, or until their successors are
appointed and qualified.

      (c) The chairperson of the health care data governing board may ap-
point a task force or task forces of interested citizens and providers of
health care for the purpose of studying technical issues relating to the
collection of health care data. At least one member of the health care
data governing board shall be a member of any task force appointed under
this subsection.

      (d) The board shall meet at least quarterly and at such other times
deemed necessary by the chairperson.

      (e) The board shall develop policy regarding the collection of health
care data and procedures for ensuring the confidentiality and security of
these data.

      Sec.  2. K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6801 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 65-6801. (a) The legislature recognizes the urgent need to pro-
vide health care consumers, third-party payors, providers and health care
planners with information regarding the trends in use and cost of health
care services in this state for improved decision-making. This is to be
accomplished by compiling a uniform set of data and establishing mech-
anisms through which the data will be disseminated.

      (b) It is the intent of the legislature to require that the information
necessary for a review and comparison of utilization patterns, cost, quality
and quantity of health care services be supplied to the health care data-
base by all providers of health care services and third-party payors to the
extent required by K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6805 and amendments thereto
and this section and amendments thereto. The secretary of health and
environment at the direction of the health care data governing board shall
specify by rule and regulation the types of information which shall be
submitted and the method of submission.

      (c) The information is to be compiled and made available in a form
prescribed by the governing board to improve the decision-making proc-
esses regarding access, identified needs, patterns of medical care, price
and use of health care services.

      Sec.  3. K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6804 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 65-6804. (a) The secretary of health and environment shall ad-
minister the health care database. In administering the health care da-
tabase, the secretary shall receive health care data from those entities
identified in K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6805 and amendments thereto and
provide for the dissemination of such data as directed by the board.

      (b) As directed by the board, the secretary of health and environment
may contract with an organization experienced in health care data collec-
tion to collect the data from the health care facilities as described in
subsection (h) of K.S.A. 65-425 and amendments thereto, build and main-
tain the database. The secretary of health and environment may accept
data submitted by associations or related organizations on behalf of health
care providers by entering into binding agreements negotiated with such
associations or related organizations to obtain data required pursuant to
this section.

      (c) The secretary of health and environment shall adopt rules and
regulations approved by the board governing the acquisition, compilation
and dissemination of all data collected pursuant to this act. The rules and
regulations shall provide at a minimum that:

      (1) Measures have been taken to provide system security for all data
and information acquired under this act;

      (2) data will be collected in the most efficient and cost-effective man-
ner for both the department and providers of data;

      (3) procedures will be developed to assure the confidentiality of pa-
tient records. Patient names, addresses and other personal identifiers will
be omitted from the database;

      (4) users may be charged for data preparation or information that is
beyond the routine data disseminated and that the secretary shall estab-
lish by the adoption of such rules and regulations a system of fees for
such data preparation or dissemination; and

      (5) the secretary of health and environment will ensure that the
health care database will be kept current, accurate and accessible as pre-
scribed by rules and regulations.

      (d) Data and other information collected pursuant to this act shall be
confidential, shall be disseminated only for statistical purposes pursuant
to rules and regulations adopted by the secretary of health and environ-
ment and approved by the board and shall not be disclosed or made public
in any manner which would identify individuals. A violation of this sub-
section (d) is a class C misdemeanor.

      (e) In addition to such criminal penalty under subsection (d), any
individual whose identity is revealed in violation of subsection (d) may
bring a civil action against the responsible person or persons for any dam-
ages to such individual caused by such violation.

 Sec.  4. K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 65-6801, 65-6803 and 65-6804 are hereby
repealed.
 Sec.  5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the Kansas register.

Approved May 5, 2000.
 Published in the Kansas Register May 18, 2000.
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