Texas Compliance: TX-RAMP & HB 300 in Houston
Texas writes its own rules on top of the federal ones. Sell cloud software to a state agency or a public university and TX-RAMP applies. Touch Texas patient records and HB 300 reaches further than HIPAA does. Sentinel-Pros handles both, and handles them together where both apply.
The Problem
A Houston software company wins genuine interest from a state agency, a public university system, or a hospital district, then learns the contract cannot move until the product carries a TX-RAMP certification nobody on the team had heard of. On the healthcare side, HB 300 quietly widens the definition of a covered entity well past what federal law reaches, so Texas businesses that merely obtain or store patient information carry obligations including training deadlines for new employees and shorter timelines for producing electronic records on request. Most companies discover all of this during a contract review or after a complaint reaches the Attorney General. Neither requirement is technically difficult. Both are procedural, and procedural requirements are exactly what small teams miss.
The Solution
For TX-RAMP we determine which level your product requires, map evidence across from any existing attestation work you hold, close what remains, and manage the submission and the sponsoring agency relationship through review. For HB 300 we build the training program with its tracking, update your notices and consent handling, and align your record request process to the state timelines. Where both apply, and for Houston health technology companies they very often do, we run them as one control set so evidence is collected once. Delivery is remote, with on-site sessions available across the Houston metro for staff training and leadership briefings.
Core Responsibilities
TX-RAMP
HB 300
Running Both Together
Engagement Process
Applicability Review
We determine exactly which Texas obligations reach your business, which is rarely obvious from the outside. The TX-RAMP level depends on the data an agency will put into your product, and HB 300 reaches organizations that never considered themselves healthcare companies at all.
Evidence Mapping
Existing federal or attestation work is mapped across so you are not rebuilding controls you already operate every day. Most companies holding a current SOC 2 report have already satisfied a substantial share of what the state program asks for.
Close the Gaps
We implement what is missing, build the training and record request procedures the statute requires, and document them so a state review or a complaint response has something concrete to point at rather than a verbal assurance.
Submit and Maintain
We carry the TX-RAMP submission through review and put the recurring state obligations on a calendar: training deadlines for new hires, periodic refreshers, and certification renewal dates that arrive sooner than anyone expects.
More for Houston Businesses
Common Questions
What triggers TX-RAMP for us?
Selling a cloud product or service to a Texas state agency or public institution of higher education generally triggers it, and the required level depends on the sensitivity of the data the agency will store in your system. A Houston vendor selling into a public university system or a state health agency will be asked during procurement, not afterward.
We have a SOC 2 report. Does that satisfy the state program?
It does a large part of the work but does not replace the certification itself. The program has a path that recognizes existing attestations, which shortens the effort considerably. We map your report against the requirements and identify only the remainder, which is usually far smaller than teams expect.
How is HB 300 different from federal privacy law?
It applies to a broader set of organizations, requires security and privacy training for employees within a set period after hire and periodically afterward, and shortens the timeline for providing electronic records to patients who request them. A Houston business can sit outside the federal definition of a covered entity and squarely inside the Texas one.
Who enforces the Texas requirements?
The Texas Attorney General holds enforcement authority, and state penalties exist alongside federal ones rather than instead of them. Documented training completion is the single most useful piece of evidence to have ready, because it is the first thing typically requested.
We are a startup near the Medical Center. Which do we tackle first?
Usually HB 300, because it applies the day you handle Texas patient information regardless of your sales pipeline, and the training and disclosure procedures are inexpensive to put in place. TX-RAMP follows the sales motion and only becomes urgent once a public sector opportunity is genuinely real.
Ready to get started?
BOOK A CONSULTATIONTexas Compliance: TX-RAMP & HB 300 for Houston, Texas
Texas specific requirements land hardest on two kinds of Houston company. The first is the health technology cluster around the Texas Medical Center: clinical workflow tools, remote monitoring platforms, billing and revenue cycle firms, and research support companies that handle Texas patient records every day. HB 300 reaches all of them, and it reaches businesses that never thought of themselves as healthcare at all, including companies that simply obtain patient information in the course of providing an unrelated service. The second group is any Houston firm selling technology into the public sector, and the public sector here is large: state agencies with major regional operations, the public university systems, hospital districts, community college districts, and the local government entities serving Harris County. Those buyers ask for TX-RAMP during procurement, and a vendor without it watches a funded opportunity sit idle until the certification exists. Houston companies frequently occupy both categories at once, since a health technology product sold to a public hospital district triggers state privacy obligations and state cloud certification inside the same contract. Handling them as separate projects means building the same evidence twice, which is the most common and most avoidable expense we see in this work.
See the statewide overview of Texas Compliance: TX-RAMP & HB 300 or all services available in Houston.