Section 68-1-108 - Reports of claims data by licensed hospitals - Penalties - Waiver - Licensure - Civil liability - Annual report(a) Each hospital licensed under this title or title 33, or the hospital's designated entity, shall report all claims data found on the UB-92 form or a successor form on every inpatient and outpatient discharge to the commissioner of health. A hospital shall report the claims data to the commissioner at least quarterly. After receiving the claims data, the commissioner shall promptly make the data available for review and copying by the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA) who shall use the data strictly for its own internal purposes and for internal purposes of its members. No information shall be made available to the public by either the commissioner or the THA that reasonably could be expected to reveal the identity of any patient. The claims data reported to the commissioner under this section are confidential and not available to the public until the commissioner processes and verifies the data. The commissioner shall prescribe conditions under which the processed and verified data are available to the public and shall establish policies for the release of HIPAA compliant limited use data sets.(b) A licensed hospital shall pay to the commissioner a civil penalty of five cents (5¢) for each day the claims data discharge report is delinquent. A claims data report is delinquent if the commissioner does not receive it before sixty (60) days after the end of the quarter. If the commissioner receives the report in incomplete form, the commissioner shall notify the hospital and provide fifteen (15) additional days to correct the error. The notice shall provide the hospital an additional fifteen (15) days to complete the form and return it to the commissioner prior to the imposition of any civil penalty. The maximum civil penalty for a delinquent report is ten dollars ($10.00) for each discharge record. The commissioner shall issue an assessment of the civil penalty to the hospital. The hospital has a right to an informal conference with the commissioner, if the hospital requests such conference within thirty (30) days of receipt of the assessment. After the informal conference or, if no conference is requested, after the time for requesting the informal conference has expired, the commissioner may proceed to collect the penalty by setting the penalty off against funds owed to the hospital or by instituting litigation.(c) In its request for an informal conference, the hospital may request the commissioner to waive the penalty. The commissioner may waive the penalty in cases of an act of God or other acts beyond the control of the hospital. Waiver of the penalty is in the sole discretion of the commissioner. None of these proceedings is subject to the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.(d) A hospital licensed pursuant to chapter 11, part 2 of this title shall, as a condition of licensure, continue to complete and submit annually the report of hospital statistics required by § 68-11-310 and regulations promulgated pursuant to that section.(e) No person or entity, including the THA, may be held liable in any civil action with respect to any report or disclosure of information made under this section, unless the person or entity has knowledge of any falsity of the information reported or disclosed.(f) On or before March 1 of each year, the department of health shall submit to the governor, the speaker of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the health and welfare committee of the senate, and the health committee of the house of representatives a report with de-identified aggregate claims data on every inpatient and outpatient discharge that includes coded drug poisonings as reported for the calendar year two (2) years prior to the current year by licensed hospitals to the commissioner of health pursuant to this chapter. The department shall also publish the data submitted under this subsection (f) on the department's internet website.Amended by 2018 Tenn. Acts, ch. 618, s 1, eff. 7/1/2018.Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 373, s 1, eff. 5/4/2015.Amended by 2013 Tenn. Acts, ch. 236, s 49, eff. 4/19/2013.Acts 1985, ch. 480, §§ 1-4; 1994, ch. 889, § 1; 2011 , ch. 37, § 1; 2012 , ch. 704, § 1; 2012 , ch. 916, § 1.