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Senate Bill 1643 |
Senate Author: Williams et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
House Sponsor: Alvarado |
Senate Bill 1643 amends the Health and Safety Code to revise the health professionals authorized at the discretion of the director of the Department of Public Safety to access certain information submitted under the official prescription program and authorize certain pharmacists and health care professionals to access that information through a health information exchange. The bill provides for that information to be included in any form in the medical or pharmacy record of the patient who is the subject of the information and makes such information subject to any applicable state or federal confidentiality or privacy laws. The bill extends the deadline by which the director is required to remove from the information retrieval system, destroy, and make irretrievable a record of a patient's identity submitted to the director.
Senate Bill 1643 expands the conduct that constitutes the state jail felony offense of unauthorized disclosure of information to include knowingly giving, permitting, or obtaining unauthorized access to information submitted to the director under the official prescription program. The bill creates the interagency prescription monitoring work group to evaluate the effectiveness of prescription monitoring under the Texas Controlled Substances Act and to offer recommendations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of recordkeeping and other functions related to the regulation of dispensing controlled substances by prescription. The bill sets out the work group's composition and meeting and reporting requirements.
Senate Bill 1643 amends the Occupations Code to prohibit the Texas Medical Board from making a decision on an application for a pain management certificate submitted by an applicant who is under investigation by the board for a violation of the Medical Practice Act, board rules, or other law relating to the prescription, dispensation, administration, supply, or sale of a controlled substance until the board has reached a final decision on the matter under investigation. The bill specifies that a violation of provisions regulating pain management clinics or a rule adopted under those provisions is grounds for a temporary suspension or restriction of a license to practice medicine.