TX SB2548

Requires the Health and Human Services Commission to give preference to managed care organizations with provider networks that include health care providers who traditionally serve Medicaid and charity care patients, and mandates evaluation of organizations' current provider networks and publicly available information

Adds new contract award considerations including the impact of not renewing contracts on local community access to care, and requires consideration of managed care plans with children's hospitals serving special patient populations

Provides extra consideration in the South Texas service region for managed care organizations that are locally owned, managed, and operated

Requires organizations seeking contract preference to both successfully implement quality initiatives AND meet quality-of-care and cost-efficiency benchmarks, rather than meeting only one criterion

Mandates reevaluation of pending contract awards (including those with only intent to award issued or subject to litigation) under the new criteria, with contracts awarded to the highest-scoring bidder based on reevaluated scores