HB 711 overwhelmingly passed both chambers of the Texas legislature and would allow employers to tier hospitals within a system and steer patients to higher performing centers.
Health insurance plans are in for significant changes with the filing of HB 711, which allows employers to steer employees to higher-performing health centers and tier hospitals based on performance within health insurance plans.
Currently, if an employer wants a specific hospital to be in its insurance network, the insurance plan has to include all of the hospitals in that network, even if some are lower performing. Additionally, the plans cannot incentivize employees to go to certain hospitals over others by offering more coverage at higher-performing facilities. But that is all about to change. Even though Abbott didn’t sign the bill, it was filed without his signature and is effective immediately.