By Harris                                              H.B. No. 597
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to hospital staff privileges for doctors of medicine and
    1-3  doctors of osteopathy.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 241, Health and Safety
    1-6  Code, is amended by adding Section 241.105 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 241.105.  MEDICAL STAFF PRIVILEGES FOR DOCTORS OF
    1-8  MEDICINE AND DOCTORS OF OSTEOPATHY.  (a)  A hospital may not
    1-9  discriminate with respect to staff privileges against a physician
   1-10  who is licensed on the basis of holding a degree of doctor of
   1-11  osteopathy rather than the degree of doctor of medicine.
   1-12        (b)  If a hospital's staffing requirements for staff
   1-13  privileges require a physician to be residency trained, to be
   1-14  certified or eligible for certification by an American Medical
   1-15  Association recognized specialty board, or to have completed a
   1-16  residency program accredited by the Accreditation Council on
   1-17  Graduate Medical Education, a hospital staff position must be made
   1-18  available on an equal basis to an osteopathic physician who has
   1-19  completed a residency program accredited by the American
   1-20  Osteopathic Association, or certified  or eligible for
   1-21  certification by an American Osteopathic  Association recognized
   1-22  osteopathic speciality board.
   1-23        (c)  If a hospital's staffing requirements for staff
   1-24  privileges require a physician to be residency trained, to be
    2-1  certified or eligible for certification by a recognized American
    2-2  Osteopathic Association specialty board, or to have completed a
    2-3  residency program accredited by the American Osteopathic
    2-4  Association, a hospital staff position must be made available on an
    2-5  equal basis to an allopathic physician who has completed a
    2-6  residency program accredited by the Accreditation Council for
    2-7  Graduate Medical Education, or certified or eligible for
    2-8  certification by a specialty board recognized by the American
    2-9  Medical Association.
   2-10        (d)  A hospital may not adopt written bylaws that circumvent
   2-11  the legislative intent to give equal professional status and
   2-12  privileges to doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathy or to
   2-13  circumvent any other nondiscriminatory provisions in the Medical
   2-14  Practice Act (Article 4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or any
   2-15  other law applicable to osteopathic physicians.
   2-16        (e)  A hospital credentialing committee shall act
   2-17  expeditiously and without unnecessary delay when a licensed doctor
   2-18  of medicine or doctor of osteopathy submits a completed application
   2-19  for permission to treat patients in the hospital.  The hospital
   2-20  shall take final action on the application not later than the 90th
   2-21  day after the date the application is received.  The hospital must
   2-22  notify the applicant in writing of the hospital's final action,
   2-23  including a reason for the denial of or restriction on the
   2-24  application, not later than the 20th day after the date of the
   2-25  final action.
   2-26        (f)  On receipt of a complaint of discrimination by an
   2-27  aggrieved physician, the district attorney of the county in which a
    3-1  violation under this section occurs or the district attorney of
    3-2  Travis County may bring an action to enjoin the violation.
    3-3        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-9  passage, and it is so enacted.