Text of section effective on April 01, 2025
Sec. 540.0206.  MANDATORY CONTRACTS.  (a)  Subject to the certification required under Section 540.0203 and the considerations required under Section 540.0204, in providing health care services through Medicaid managed care to recipients in a health care service region, the commission shall contract with a managed care organization in that region that holds a certificate of authority issued under Chapter 843, Insurance Code, to provide health care in that region and that is:
(1)  wholly owned and operated by a hospital district in that region;
(2)  created by a nonprofit corporation that:
(A)  has a contract, agreement, or other arrangement with a hospital district in that region or with a municipality in that region that owns a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, and has an obligation to provide health care to indigent patients; and
(B)  under the contract, agreement, or other arrangement, assumes the obligation to provide health care to indigent patients and leases, manages, or operates a hospital facility the hospital district or municipality owns; or
(3)  created by a nonprofit corporation that has a contract, agreement, or other arrangement with a hospital district in that region under which the nonprofit corporation acts as an agent of the district and assumes the district's obligation to arrange for services under the Medicaid expansion for children as authorized by Chapter 444 (S.B. 10), Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995.
(b)  A managed care organization described by Subsection (a) is subject to all terms to which other managed care organizations are subject, including all contractual, regulatory, and statutory provisions relating to participation in the Medicaid managed care program.
(c)  The commission shall make the awarding and renewal of a mandatory contract under this section to a managed care organization affiliated with a hospital district or municipality contingent on the district or municipality entering into a matching funds agreement to expand Medicaid for children as authorized by Chapter 444 (S.B. 10), Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995. The commission shall make compliance with the matching funds agreement a condition of the continuation of the contract with the managed care organization to provide health care services to recipients.
(d)  Subsection (c) does not apply if:
(1)  the commission does not expand Medicaid for children as authorized by Chapter 444, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995; or
(2)  a waiver from a federal agency necessary for the expansion is not granted.
(e)  In providing health care services through Medicaid managed care to recipients in a health care service region, with the exception of the Harris service area for the STAR Medicaid managed care program, as the commission defined as of September 1, 1999, the commission shall also contract with a managed care organization in that region that holds a certificate of authority as a health maintenance organization issued under Chapter 843, Insurance Code, and that:
(1)  is certified under Section 162.001, Occupations Code;
(2)  is created by The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; and
(3)  has obtained a certificate of authority as a health maintenance organization to serve one or more counties in that region from the Texas Department of Insurance before September 2, 1999.
Added by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 769 (H.B. 4611), Sec. 1.01, eff. April 1, 2025.