28 Tex. Admin. Code § 21.5404 - Data Submission Requirements

(a) Payors must submit the data files required by subsection (c) of this section to the Center according to the schedule provided in § 21.5405 of this title (relating to Timing and Frequency of Data Submissions). Payors are responsible for submitting or arranging to submit all applicable data under this subchapter, including data with respect to benefits that are administered or adjudicated by another contracted or delegated entity, such as carved-out behavioral health benefits or pharmacy benefits administered by a pharmacy benefit manager. Payors may arrange for a third-party administrator or delegated or contracted entity to submit data on behalf of the payor but may not submit data that duplicates data submitted by a third party.

(1) The Texas Health and Human Services Commission may submit data on behalf of all applicable payors participating in a plan or program identified in § 21.5401(b)(18) - (b)(21) of this title (relating to Applicability).

(2) A payor that acts as an administrator on behalf of a health benefit plan or dental plan for which reporting is optional per Insurance Code § 38.407, concerning Certain Entities Not Required to Submit Data, may ask the plan sponsor whether it elects or declines to participate in or submit data to the Center and may include data for such plans within the payor's data submission. Both the inquiry to and response from the plan sponsor should be in writing.

(3) A payor providing Medicare Supplement benefit plans may elect to submit Medicare Supplement benefit plan data to the Center.

(b) Payors or their designees that are subject to this subchapter must register with the Center each year, consistent with the instructions and procedures contained in the submission guide. Payors must communicate any changes to registration information by contacting the Center within 30 days using the contact information provided in the submission guide. Upon registration, the Center will assign a unique payor code and submitter code to be used in naming the data files and provide the credentials and information required to submit data files.

(c) Payors must submit the following files, consistent with the requirements of the Texas APCD CDL:

(1) enrollment and eligibility data files;

(2) medical claims data files;

(3) pharmacy claims data files;

(4) dental claims data files; and

(5) provider files.

(d) Payors must package all files being submitted into zip files that are encrypted according to the standard provided in the submission guide. Payors must submit the encrypted zip files to the Center using one of the following file submission methods:

(1) transmit the files to the Center's Managed File Transfer servers using the Secure File Transport Protocol (SFTP) and the credentials and transmittal information provided upon registration;

(2) upload files from an internet browser using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) protocol and the credentials and transmittal information provided upon registration; or

(3) transmit the files using a subsequent electronic method as provided in the data submission guide.

(e) Payors must name data files and zip files consistent with the file naming conventions specified by the Center in the submission guide.

(f) Payors must format all data files as standard 8-bit UCS Transformation Format (UTF-8) encoded text files with a ".txt" file extension and adhere to the following standards:

(1) use a single line per record and do not include carriage returns or line feed characters within the record;

(2) records must be delimited by the carriage return and line feed character combination;

(3) all data fields are variable field length, subject to the constraints identified in the Texas APCD CDL, and must be delimited using the pipe (|) character (ASCII=124), which must not appear in the data itself;

(4) text fields must not be demarcated or enclosed in single or double quotes;

(5) the first row of each data file must contain the names of data columns as specified by the Texas APCD CDL;

(6) numerical fields (e.g., ID numbers, account numbers, etc.) must not contain spaces, hyphens, or other punctuation marks, or be padded with leading or trailing zeroes;

(7) currency and unit fields must contain decimal points when appropriate;

(8) if a data field is not to be populated, a null value must be used, consisting of an empty set of consecutive pipe delimiters (||) with no content between them.

(g) Data files must include information consistent with the Texas APCD CDL that enables the data to be analyzed based on the market category, product category, coverage type, and other factors relevant for distinguishing types of plans.

(h) Payors must include data in medical, pharmacy, and dental claims data files for a given reporting period based on the date the claim is adjudicated, not the date of service associated with the claim. For example, a service provided in March but adjudicated in April would be included in the April data report. Likewise, any claim adjustments must be included in the appropriate data file based on the date the adjustment was made and include a reference that links the original claim to all subsequent actions associated with that claim. Payors must report medical, pharmacy, and dental claims data at the visit, service, or prescription level. Payors must also include claims for capitated services with all medical, pharmacy, and dental claims data file submissions.

(i) Payors must include all payment fields specified as required in the Texas APCD CDL. With respect to medical, pharmacy, and dental claims data file submissions, payors must also:

(1) include coinsurance and copayment data in two separate fields;

(2) clearly identify claims where multiple parties have financial responsibility by including a Coordination of Benefits, or COB, notation; and

(3) include specified types of denied claims and identify a denied claim either by a denied notation or assigning eligible, allowed, and payment amounts of zero. The data submission guide will specify the types of denied claims that must be included on the basis of the claim adjustment reason code associated with the denial. In general, denied claims are not required when the reason for the denial was incomplete claim coding or duplicative claims. Denied claims are required when they accurately reflect care that was delivered to an eligible member but not covered by a plan due to contractual terms, such as benefit maximums, place of service, provider type, or care deemed not medically necessary or experimental or investigational. Payors are not required to include data for rejected claims or claims that are denied because the patient was not an eligible member.

(j) Every data file submission must include a control report that specifies the count of records and, as applicable, the total allowed amount and total paid amount.

(k) Unless otherwise specified, payors must use the code sources listed and described in the Texas APCD CDL within the member eligibility and enrollment data file and medical, pharmacy, and dental claims data file and provider file submissions.

(l) Payors must use the member's social security number as a unique member identifier (ID) or assign an alternative unique member ID as provided in this subsection.

(1) If a payor collects the social security number for the subscriber only, the payor must assign a discrete two-digit suffix for each member under the subscriber's contract.

(2) If a payor does not collect the subscriber's social security number, the payor must assign a unique member ID to the subscriber and the member in its place. The payor must also use a discrete two-digit suffix with the unique member ID to associate members under the same contract with the subscriber.

(3) A payor must use the same unique member ID for the member's entire period of coverage under a particular plan. If a change in the unique member ID or the use of two different unique member IDs for the same individual is unavoidable, the payor must provide documentation, if available, linking the member IDs in the form and method provided by the Center.

(m) When standardized values for data variables are available and stated within the Texas APCD CDL, no specific or unique coding systems will be permitted as part of the health care claims data set submission.

(n) Within the enrollment and eligibility data files, payors must report member enrollment and eligibility information at the individual member level. If a member is covered as both a subscriber and a dependent on two different policies during the same month, the payor must submit two member enrollment and eligibility records. If a member has two different policies for two different coverage types, the payor must submit two member enrollment and eligibility records.

(o) Payors must include a header and trailer record in each data file submission according to the formats described in the Texas APCD CDL. The header record is the first record of each separate file submission, and the trailer record is the last.

Notes

28 Tex. Admin. Code § 21.5404

Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 47, Number 23, June 10, 2022, TexReg 3475, eff. 6/16/2022; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 49, Number 47, November 22, 2024, TexReg 9556, eff. 11/28/2024