Regulatory Assessment

TX-UR-0052 HOLD

TX · health · utilization review · decided 2026-10-19 11:00 UTC · Harborline Health Plan, Inc. (fictional)

On 2026-10-19, ur-auto v2.0 (a third-party system from ClinPath AI (fictional)) produced 'adverse determination' in a TX health utilization review transaction. Inputs included clinical criteria, medical records. A human reviewed the output by a nurse. The outcome was adverse to the consumer; no notice to the consumer is recorded. RegBench applied 5 rule(s) in force on 2026-10-19 and recorded 1 finding(s); the most serious is 'Adverse utilization-review determination without a physician's determination' (critical, L2).

HOLD: 1 finding(s) under rules 2026.10+c4982313, corpus 2026-10-30-9c5dad5a. Recommended hold for the carrier's compliance review before the outcome is communicated; the carrier decides.

Coverage: supported. 4 state-specific and 0 general black-letter rule(s) applied to this TX health utilization review transaction. Only the configured checks were run; a result is not a legal opinion on compliance. 5 of 30 rules applied.

Evidence (carrier asserted). Supplied by the carrier and not verified by RegBench: ai_system.governance_attested, ai_system.model_doc_ref, ai_system.testing_report_ref, inputs.data_source_refs.

Carrier note (data, never evaluated): Prior authorization for inpatient rehabilitation; system recommended adverse determination; nurse reviewer concurred; no physician review recorded.

Findings (1)

critical L2 black letter hold exhibit C tx.4201.adverse-determination-by-automated-system

Adverse utilization-review determination without a physician's determination

Finding. An adverse determination on a request for health care services was produced by an automated decision system and no physician determination is recorded.

Basis. § 4201.156(a): "A utilization review agent may not use an automated decision system to make, wholly or partly, an adverse determination." Utilization review must be conducted under the direction of a licensed physician (§ 4201.152), and before an adverse determination the provider must have a reasonable opportunity to discuss the treatment plan with a physician (§ 4201.206). The 2025 amendment applies to utilization review for plans delivered, issued or renewed on or after 1 January 2026.

Required action. Hold; route to a physician reviewer; give the provider of record the opportunity to discuss the treatment plan before any adverse determination issues.

Excerpt: tx-ins-4201-156 · state statute (government edict) · in force from 2025-09-01

"(a) A utilization review agent may not use an automated decision system to make, wholly or partly, an adverse determination. (b) The commissioner may audit and inspect at any time a utilization review agent's use of an automated decision system for utilization review. (c) This section does not prohibit the use of an algorithm, artificial intelligence system, or automated decision system for administrative support or fraud-detection functions."

Excerpt: tx-ins-4201-152 · state statute (government edict) · in force from 2007-04-01

"A utilization review agent shall conduct utilization review under the direction of a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state. The physician may not hold a license to practice administrative medicine under Section 155.009, Occupations Code."

Excerpt: tx-ins-4201-206 · state statute (government edict) · in force from 2007-04-01

"(a) Subject to Subsection (b) and the notice requirements of Subchapter G, before an adverse determination is issued by a utilization review agent who questions the medical necessity, the appropriateness, or the experimental or investigational nature of a health care service, the agent shall provide the health care provider who ordered, requested, provided, or is to provide the service a reasonable opportunity to discuss with a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state the patient's treatment plan and the clinical basis for the agent's determination."

Excerpt: tx-ins-4201-002-1c · state statute (government edict) · in force from 2025-09-01

"(1-b) 'Artificial intelligence system' means any machine learning-based system that, for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from the inputs the system receives how to generate outputs, including content, decisions, predictions, and recommendations, that can influence physical or virtual environments. (1-c) 'Automated decision system' means an algorithm, including an algorithm incorporating an artificial intelligence system, that uses data-based analytics to make, suggest, or recommend certain determinations, decisions, judgments, or conclusions."

Point in time

Law as of
2026-10-19
Rules version
2026.10+c4982313
Corpus snapshot
2026-10-30-9c5dad5a
Engine
regbench-engine/0.5.0 · deterministic-1
Fingerprint
4f73f0e18b07be3bcd315de0 (pattern grouping, not an integrity check)
Input digest
70aa4f969b186bc0c6790b3391eff58ec939a879c78a9b9fcf1198aef177076a
Evaluated
2026-10-31 05:42:56 UTC
Exhibit C case file
yes

Ledger

Entry
#6625 · assessment · recorded 2026-10-19T11:03:14+00:00
Hash
97f82c15781c0437ee8f11fb018f37124f519e71f0a035c53f847685f3899952
Previous
02a7695706df850c9021fbea213754b9e7ce3d756f8bd8b046e37695ae418456
Stored copy intact
yes, hashes match
Assessed input intact
yes, revision 1 matches the input digest

Verify the whole chain Case file JSON

Carrier review

Resolved by physician · outcome remediated · 9.9 hours after it opened · Resolved in the carrier's review queue (synthetic).

Recorded facts revision 1

As asserted by the carrier. References are recorded, not verified: RegBench holds no copy of the documents they name.

AI system
ur-auto v2.0 · third party (ClinPath AI (fictional)) · high-risk class: utilization review
Governance attested
True
Testing report
test://harborline/ur-auto/2026Q2
Model documentation
doc://harborline/ur-auto/2.0
Feature classes
clinical_criteria, medical_records
Protected factors used
none
External data (ECDIS)
False
Consumer report / credit
False / False
Data sources
ehr://harborline/clinical-record
Decision
adverse determination · score 0.81 · codes MN-02
Human review
yes (nurse)
Adverse to consumer
True
Notice
not recorded · reasons: True · specific: True · external data disclosed: False
Appeal channel
[email protected]
Consumer token
tok_showcase_0052