Sec. 1305.502. CONSUMER REPORT CARDS

(a) The group shall develop and issue an annual informational report card that identifies and compares, on an objective basis, the quality, costs, health care provider availability, and other analogous factors of workers' compensation health care networks operating under the workers' compensation system of this state with each other and with medical care provided outside of networks.

(b) The group may procure services as necessary to produce the report card. The report card must include a risk-adjusted evaluation of:

(1) employee access to care;

(2) return-to-work outcomes;

(3) health-related outcomes;

(4) employee satisfaction with care; and

(5) health care costs and utilization of health care.

(c) The report cards may be based on information or data from any person, agency, organization, or governmental entity that the group considers reliable. The group may not endorse or recommend a specific workers' compensation health care network or plan, or subjectively rate or rank networks or plans, other than through comparison and evaluation of objective criteria.

(d) The commissioner shall ensure that consumer report cards issued by the group under this section are accessible to the public on the department's Internet website and available to any person on request. The commissioner by rule may set a reasonable fee for obtaining a paper copy of report cards.

Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 265 , Sec. 4.02, eff. September 1, 2005.