In their Numbered Letter released on March 24th, THCIC stated they will begin enforcement of missing or invalid patient race and ethnicity codes for every record. This letter also states that starting with 1q2021 data THCIC will begin assessing penalties for missing or invalid coding of patient race and ethnicity.
Fatal errors for missing or invalid patient race and ethnicity are already operational in the Star platform. Please correct all fatal errors related to race and ethnicity in the Star platform to avoid any penalty from THCIC. Any errors left in your data at the time of the THA Compass deadline must be corrected downstream at System 13.
The 4q2020 THA dataset shows over 1,300 records with a missing or invalid ethnicity, and nearly 1,000 records with missing or invalid race. Take a close look as you complete any future corrections to ensure your facility has no missing or invalid race or ethnicity values. As a reminder, acceptable race and ethnicity codes are shown below.
Acceptable Race codes are:
1 = American Indian/Eskimo/Aleut,
2 = Asian or, Pacific Islander,
3 = Black,
4 = White and
5 = Other Race.
Acceptable Ethnicity codes are:
1 = Hispanic or Latino Origin,
2 = Not of Hispanic or Latino Origin.
All THCIC Number Letters can be found here: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/thcic/Texas-Health-Care-Information-Collection-Numbered-Letters/
Please see attached THCIC newsletter for full details.