Texas Administrative Code
Title 28 - INSURANCE
Part 1 - TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE
Chapter 21 - TRADE PRACTICES
Subchapter UU - MACHINE-READABLE FILES
Section 21.5502 - Form and Method of Publishing Machine-Readable Files
Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) Required machine-readable files. Issuers must publish the following machine-readable files consistent with Insurance Code Chapter 1662, Subchapter C, concerning Required Public Disclosures, and the rules under this subchapter:
(b) Transport mechanism. An issuer must make all machine-readable files available via HTTPS.
(c) Content type. An issuer must use a nonproprietary and open format for publishing machine-readable files. Examples of acceptable formats include JSON, XML, and YAML. Examples of proprietary formats that are not acceptable include PDF, XLS, and XLSX.
(d) Public discoverability. An issuer must make machine-readable files available to the public consistent with Insurance Code § 1662.107, concerning Required Method and Format for Disclosure, and without restrictions that would impede the reuse of that information. The issuer must provide the location of the URLs for the machine-readable files over HTTPS to ensure the integrity of the data.
(e) Indexing. To allow for search engine discoverability, an issuer may not use a mechanism, such as a robots.txt file or a meta tag on the page where the files are hosted, or other mechanism that gives instructions to web crawlers to not index the page.
(f) Special data types. Dates must be strings in ISO 8601 format (e.g., YYYY-MM-DD).
(g) Different flat files. Issuers must publish three machine-readable files using the following file type names:
(h) Multiple plans per file. An issuer that has multiple plans with the same negotiated rates with the same group of providers for the same covered health care services and supplies may group multiple plans together within a single file. An issuer that groups multiple plans into a single file must create a file with the file type name "table-of-contents" that uses the naming convention and standards required under subsection (i)(2) of this section. The filing convention for single plan files under subsection (i)(1) of this section will not apply to files published as permitted under this subsection.
(i) File-naming convention. An issuer must name each file using the naming convention and standards required under this subsection.
(j) Safe harbor. An issuer that publishes machine-readable files in the form and method specified by the federal guidance published on the following website: github.com/CMSgov/price-transparency-guide, and its associated schemas, will be deemed compliant for the purposes of this subchapter.