Bill targets transparency for mental hospitals
Patients have a right to know if a hospital is safe when choosing where to receive care, Rep. Stephanie Klick said Wednesday — and that means the inspection process needs to be more transparent.
Klick, R-Fort Worth, presented her bill, H.B. 2052, Wednesday to the House Committee on Public Health. It would require the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to post more information related to investigations and violations at both general hospitals and private psychiatric hospitals across the state.
Currently, the state only publicly posts enforcement actions from the previous year against these hospitals. The information posted includes the date of the action, the penalty and the state code the hospital allegedly violated.
But Klick’s bill would require the state to post the number of investigations health and human services has conducted at the facility and the notice of the hospital’s alleged violation — including the code in question and a statement about what happened. The outcome of each investigation, including the adoption of a corrective action plan, and the final decision, investigative report or or
der issued by the commission to address the alleged violation would have to be posted as well.
“The intent of this bill is to increase transparency, making the final hospital investigation reports, outcomes and the number of times they’ve been investigated open to the public,” Klick said Wednesday. “This transparency will help patients make informed decisions.”
The information would have to remain on HHSC’s website for two years. The measure would apply to all hospitals investigated by the state.
The Wednesday hearing comes weeks after the Houston Chronicle’s investigation, “In Crisis,” revealed that the state’s mental health system has suffered for years from underfunding and insufficient oversight. The investigation found that the state doesn’t have enough hospital beds to serve its growing population, with wait lists that stretch on for up to a year, and that it’s failing to track whether patients are getting the help they need. Many find themselves in jail over and over again.
As wait lists continue to grow for state psychiatric hospital beds, the Chronicle found that more and more Texans are seeking help from private psychiatric hospitals. But determining if these hospitals are safe is difficult because of how little information is posted online. The Chronicle had to file more than half a dozen records requests over the course of 16 months to determine how many state violations Texas’ private mental hospitals had faced in five years.
These records showed that hospitals failed to investigate patienton-patient assaults; that patients weren’t appropriately monitored, ending in a patient killing himself while others watched; and that a staff member was allowed to continue working after his crisis training had expired, and a patient subsequently suffered a head injury.
Additionally, HHSC told the Chronicle last year that it does not “track or measure the number of times they perform inspections where no violation is found.” Klick’s bill would change that.
Christine Mann, commission spokeswoman, noted in a statement that it lists enforcement actions taken against hospitals on its website, but said the commission would “implement all legislation that is enacted into law.”
Several individuals testified Wednesday that the public often has to rely on news reports to learn if a hospital has been found in violation of any laws. It shouldn’t be that way, they added.
Ware Wendell, executive director of Texas Watch — a citizen advocacy group that focuses on holding insurance companies and other corporations accountable — said Wednesday that patients have a right to know this information.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” Wendell said. “Bad things happen in the dark.”
State-run psychiatric hospitals are investigated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and therefore information about alleged violations against these hospitals would not be included in this disclosure. Much of that information can be found on hospitalinspections.org.
No one testified against the measure. The committee did not vote on the measure Wednesday.