HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

150th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 230

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE DELAWARE HEALTH CARE CLAIMS DATABASE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:

Section 1. Amend § 10314, Title 16 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§ 10314. External and public reporting of claims data.

(c) The Office of Management and Budget, State Employee Benefits Committee, Division of Public Health, State Council for Persons with Disabilities, and Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance shall have access to all claims data reported by the Delaware Health Care Claims Database under this subchapter at no cost for the purposes of public health improvement research and activities. These entities are authorized to enter into appropriate agreements with the DHIN to allow the Delaware Health Care Claims Database to perform data warehousing and analytics functions that have been performed pursuant to the existing statutory authority of the Office of Management and Budget, the State Employee Benefits Committee, State Council for Persons with Disabilities, or the Department of Health and Social Services.

SYNOPSIS

This Act allows the Delaware Health Information Network ("DHIN") to enter into an appropriate agreement with the State Council for Persons with Disabilities (“SCPD”) to provide access to all claims data reported to the Delaware Health Care Claims Database. The SCPD’s Brain Injury Committee (“BIC”) has been discussing the BIC’s need for data with the DHIN for over a year and the DHIN and the SCPD found that utilizing existing data collection systems is more cost-effective and efficient than setting up a separate registry for Delaware’s Traumatic Brain Injury (“TBI”) patients.

Access to current and accurate TBI data from the Delaware Health Care Claims Database will assist the SCPD to do the following:

1. Enhance the ability to identify scope of service needs and gaps in services.

2. Enhance the ability to leverage federal funds because past grant opportunities were denied, in part, because of a lack of reliable and useful Delaware data.

3. Incorporate the use of the data into research studies on the effectiveness of services provided, return on efforts, and cost-effectiveness.