Outpatient Data Reporting Requirements

Texas Health Care Information Collection
Center for Health Statistics

H.B.2641, of the 84^th Texas Legislative Session amended Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code to add:
Sec. 74A.002. LIMITATION ON LIABILITY OF HEALTH CAREPROVIDERS RELATING TO HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGES. (a) Unless the health care provider acts with malice or gross negligence, a health care provider who provides patient information to a health information exchange is not liable for any damages, penalties, or other relief related to the obtainment, use, or disclosure of that information in violation of federal or state privacy laws by a health information exchange, another health care provider, or any other person.

THCIC Forms

• Contact Update Form, Update facility/contact information with THCIC. (PDF format, 430 KB)
• No Quarterly Data to Report Form, for notifying THCIC there were no claims for a specific reporting period. (PDF format, 337 KB)

Who Must Report

All hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers in the State of Texas are required to report data, covering emergency department visits and would include patients which have invasive surgical or radiological procedures that are required to be reported. 

• Current Facility Contact Information (Excel format, 214 KB), with names and addresses, county, CEO, primary and alternate THCIC contacts, reporting status, and facility type, as of October 1, 2024.  A list of hospital locations is available at the Texas Hospital Association (THA) website.

• *NEW* Freestanding Emergency Medical Care FAQs

What To Report

Final rules for the collection and release of patient level data relating to patients that have surgical or radiological procedures (under specified revenue codes) performed in Texas hospitals (as an outpatient service including in the emergency department) or ambulatory surgical centers (ASC) have been adopted and can be found in Chapter 421 of Title 25, Part 1 of the Texas Administrative Code.

• Revenue Codes, covering hospital outpatient or ambulatory surgical center visits and would include patients which have invasive surgical or radiological procedures that are required to be reported. 
• Services and Procedures Categories and related HCPCS Codes 2023 This is the list of outpatient procedure codes that, if performed by a hospital or ASC, indicates the patient claim requires submission for 2023 under 25 TAC §§ 421.61- 421.68. 
• Services and Procedures Categories and related HCPCS Codes 2024 This is the list of outpatient procedure codes that, if performed by a hospital or ASC, indicates the patient claim requires submission for 2024 under 25 TAC §§ 421.61- 421.68.

Technical Specifications

The Technical Specifications manual is intended for the hospital and ambulatory surgery center IT staff or software vendor that will create the electronic data extraction for reporting and correcting data. The Appendices include information that may be useful in the submission of outpatient data.

• THCIC Outpatient 5010 Technical Specifications, Version 11.3, revised December 1, 2023 (PDF, 1.4 MB)
• 5010 Inpatient and Outpatient Appendices, Version 4.8 contains default codes, payer source codes, audit list, race/ethnicity documents, and other helpful information, updated December 1, 2023 (PDF, 683 KB)

Reporting Schedule

• Reporting Schedule, includes dates for the reporting, correction and certification of data.

Data Submission - Electronic

• Submitter and Provider Enrollment Guide, August 28, 2019 (PDF, 583 KB)
• Enrollment Form for a Submitter ID, needed for electronic file submission.
• Submitter Contact Update Form Update submitter contact information with System13. 
• Electronic File Submission - Testing and Production Status Information (PDF Format, 152 KB)
• Submitting/Uploading Files, Training presentation on uploading electronic files into the THCIC system, (PDF Format, 1.77 MB)

Data Submission - Manual Data Entry

• Claim Entry, presentation for manual data entry of outpatient claims via THCIC system, (PDF Format, 13.1 MB)
• Outpatient Reports, Training presentation on downloading reports on data currently in the THCIC system, (PDF Format 1.77 MB)

Data Correction

Facilities are responsible for correcting errors found in data files submitted to THCIC.

• Claim Correction, Training presentation for data correction via THCIC system, (PDF Format, 11.3 MB)

Data Certification

Facilities are required to certify each quarterly dataset as being complete and accurate.

• Outpatient Certification, Training presentation for data certification via THCIC system, (PDF Format, 5.41 MB)

System13 Support Videos

• Videos to assist in the submission, correction and certification of data.

Help

• Contact System13 Help Desk at 1-888-308-4953 or thcichelp@system13.com for help with electronic data submission problems, system login problems, changing a Submitter contact, or other help topics. If there is no representative available to assist, a message may be left for a return call. Assistance is available Monday through Friday 8 AM to 5 PM central standard time. System13 adheres to the Texas state observed holidays.
• Contact THCIC by email at thcichelp@dshs.texas.gov us for assistance with Claim Entry, Claim Correction and Certification.
• Online training is available to Submitters and Providers. The schedule is available.

Additional Information

• Numbered Letters, a regular publication to keep all inpatient and outpatient facilities informed of the discharge data collection process.
• Information on the data collection process was presented to the Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society at its 2nd Annual "State of the State" Agencies Conference on February 2, 2009. (PowerPoint presentation, 3.3 MB)

Download Adobe Reader to view PDF files. Viewers for reading and printing Word files, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint files are available from Microsoft's Download Center.

If you have suggestions or comments, please submit them to THCIC.

External links to other sites are intended to be informational and do not have the endorsement of the Texas Department of State Health Services. These sites may also not be accessible to people with disabilities.