Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).

Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and

attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.

F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Sanchez, B.

DATE TYPED 2-23-05

HB

SHORT TITLE Health Disparities and Data Collection

SB 786

ANALYST Collard

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

Minimal Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HB 876

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Health Policy Commission (HPC)

Department of Health (DOH)

Human Services Department (HSD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 786 SB786 amends the Health Information System Act requiring HPC to collect ad-

ditional information as part of the Health Information System (HIS) and to use the information

gathered as part of the HIS to identify health disparities relating to race, ethnicity, gender and

age. The bill adds new language to include collection of the following elements by HPC as part

of HIS: language preference and information on participation in clinical research trials. Finally,

the bill changes the word “regulations” in Paragraph 5 Subsection D Section 1 of the Health In-

formation System Act to “rules”.

Significant Issues

DOH indicates the current HIS was created to assist HPC, the Legislature, and other agencies

and organizations in the state’s efforts to collect, analyze and disseminate health information as it

pertains to health planning and policy making.

Senate Bill 786 -- Page 2

While demographic information may be collected with regard to race, ethnicity, gender, and age

of participants in clinical trials by principal investigators, a recent study conducted by the DOH

Senate Joint Memorial 13 team (from the 2004 legislative session) revealed that there is no sys-

temic method or infrastructure to aggregate the data for statewide assessment. Thus, there is no

way of reporting the degree to which minorities or members of historically disenfranchised

groups participate in clinical trials either as subjects or as researchers. The National Institutes of

Health (NIH) requires recipients of their funds to include women and minorities in clinical trials.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There is no appropriation associated with this bill; however, HPC indicates in order to carry out

the provisions of the bill, the commission may require additional staff and resources. Also, in

collecting data under the Health Information System Act, HPC may be required to reimburse

data sources if a maximum determined amount of unreimbursed costs is exceeded (Paragraph 15

of Subsection D of the Health Information System Act).

RELATIONSHIP

Senate Bill 786 relates to House Bill 876, which amends the same section of statute.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

HPC notes the terms “regulations” and “rules” could be interchangeable terms on page 4, line 7.

The commission indicates this should be clarified as it may have implications for data collection

for HPC. Additionally, “Preferred language” could be defined for clarity. Finally, HPC indi-

cates it is unclear what type of information would be included in “participation in clinical re-

search trials”. What level of detail regarding clinical research trials is expected.

DOH suggests on page 6, line 12, replacing “care” with “services.”

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Regarding health disparities, HPC notes DOH identified several disparities among gender,

race/ethnicity, education level, and income groups of New Mexicans based on health status indi-

cators and emphasized the importance of tracking and identifying the most important health dis-

parities to address including by usage of public health resources.

Regarding Clinical Trials, HPC researched the report of Senate Joint Memorial 13 “The Study of

Cultural and Linguistic Issues in Health Care in New Mexico” in 2004 and indicates minority

groups are often not included or are underrepresented in medical research. Additionally, it has

been established through research that different racial and/or ethnic groups may respond differ-

ently to medication, thus it may be of interest to know the level of representation in clinical tri-

als, but “appropriate representation” may be indeterminable.

Regarding availability of information, HPC indicates availability of accurate, reliable data may

influence the ability to draw conclusions regarding health disparities. Hospital inpatient dis-

charge data currently collected by HPC includes data on patient date of birth, gender, and ethnic-

ity. The approximate percentage of discharges (occurring in 2001) reported for each of these

Senate Bill 786 -- Page 3

variables is as follows:

.

Patient date of birth – 100 percent

.

Patient gender – 100 percent

.

Patient ethnicity – 93.2 percent

KBC/lg