Texas Compliance: TX-RAMP & HB 300 in Texas
Texas adds its own rules on top of the federal ones. If you sell cloud software to a state agency or a public university, TX-RAMP decides whether the contract can be signed, and if you hold Texas medical records, HB 300 goes further than HIPAA on training and patient access. Sentinel-Pros handles both remotely for clients statewide, with on-site sessions in Houston and travel arranged from Houston elsewhere.
The Problem
Two very different Texas businesses get blindsided by state requirements. The first is a software company that has won a state agency or public university buyer and then learns the contract cannot proceed until the cloud service carries a TX-RAMP certification at the right level, a process with its own control set, artifacts, and state review queue that no sales cycle was planned around. The second is any organisation touching Texas patient records: clinics, billing companies, therapy practices, home health agencies, and their vendors, all of whom assumed HIPAA training satisfied everything. HB 300 reaches further, with a training requirement tied to job duties and to hiring, shorter deadlines for producing electronic records to a patient, and Texas Attorney General enforcement independent of federal action. In both cases the requirement is discovered late, usually by legal or by a customer, and by then a deal or a records request is already on the clock.
The Solution
For TX-RAMP we determine which level your offering falls under based on the data the agency will put in it, assess the current control set against what the state programme expects, close the gaps, and assemble the submission package with evidence rather than assertions. Where a federal authorisation already exists, we identify what can be leveraged so you are not rebuilding from zero. For HB 300 we build the training programme with the documentation the statute expects, tighten electronic record request handling so the response window is met, review your notice and consent practices, and push the same expectations into your business associate agreements. Everything here runs on documents, interviews, and system evidence, so delivery is remote and a client in Lubbock or Brownsville gets the same engagement as one in Houston. We do not control state review timelines and will not pretend otherwise. Pricing is a fixed monthly retainer scoped on a discovery call.
Core Responsibilities
TX-RAMP Certification Support
HB 300 Program Build
Contract And Vendor Readiness
Engagement Process
Identify The Obligation
We separate what actually applies from what somebody assumed applies. Which agency, which data classification, which records, which employees. The scope of a Texas obligation is narrower and more specific than most vendors expect.
Assess The Current State
We review the controls, training records, and record request handling you have today and document the real gaps, including obligations already met that nobody had written down.
Close And Document
Missing controls get implemented and evidenced, training gets rebuilt around job duties, and record request handling gets a workflow with an owner and a clock attached.
Submit And Sustain
For TX-RAMP we prepare and support the submission through state review. For HB 300 we set the recurring rhythm: new hire training, annual refresh, and periodic testing of the record request process.
Where We Deliver This
Common Questions
Does TX-RAMP apply to us if we only sell to one small state agency?
Agency size does not change the requirement. What matters is that a Texas state agency or covered institution is procuring a cloud computing service and the data classification involved. If a public university department is buying your software as a service product, the programme is generally in play and the contracting office will say so.
We already have FedRAMP. Does that help?
It helps considerably. The state programme was designed to recognise federal authorisation rather than duplicate it, and there is a defined path for providers who already hold one. We map what carries over and what still needs to be produced for the state, so you do not rebuild controls you have already proven.
Is HB 300 just HIPAA with a Texas label?
No. It applies to a broader set of covered entities than the federal definition, imposes training tied to job duties and to a deadline after hiring, and shortens the window for providing electronic health records to a patient who requests them. It is also enforced by the Texas Attorney General, so a federal review is not the only exposure.
Can you help if our office is in Amarillo or the Rio Grande Valley?
Yes. This work is remote by design because it is built from documentation, interviews, and system evidence rather than hardware. Houston clients can have us on-site, and for clients elsewhere in Texas we schedule travel from Houston when an in-person working session with leadership is worth doing.
How long does TX-RAMP take and what does it cost?
We will not quote a timeline, because part of it sits with the state review queue rather than with you or with us. Our fee is a fixed monthly retainer scoped on a discovery call, based on your level, your current control maturity, and how much documentation already exists.
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BOOK A CONSULTATIONAcross Texas
These two rules explain a great deal about how technology and healthcare businesses grow in Texas. The state is one of the largest public purchasers in the country, with agencies in Austin, the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems and their campuses from El Paso to Kingsville, county and municipal entities, and public hospital districts. Software companies along the Austin corridor, in the Dallas and Richardson technology cluster, and increasingly in Houston build a real portion of their pipeline on that public sector demand, and TX-RAMP is the gate in front of it. On the health side, Texas carries an enormous provider footprint: the Texas Medical Center and its affiliated practices in Houston, the San Antonio military and civilian medical community, hospital systems anchoring Lubbock, Amarillo, Tyler, and Corpus Christi, and rural clinics and critical access hospitals across the Panhandle, West Texas, and the border counties where a single practice may serve an entire county. Behind all of them sit billing companies, transcription vendors, imaging providers, and practice management platforms that hold Texas medical records without being the treating provider. Every one of those organisations is subject to state obligations that federal training never mentioned, and most of them find out when a patient request, a contract, or an Attorney General inquiry arrives.
Texas Compliance: TX-RAMP & HB 300 by City
Local detail for each community we serve. See all service areas.