BILL ANALYSIS



S.B. 1301
By: Cain (Berlanga)
May 11, 1995
Committee Report (Unamended)


BACKGROUND

Current law requires all medical education taken within the United
States to be accredited by an accrediting body officially
recognized by the United States Department of Education and the
Council on Post Secondary Accreditation. An international medical
graduate who received training or education in the United States as
part of a degree program leading to the medical doctorate degree of
another country would have been educated in the United States
outside the approved educational structure. The Council on Post
Secondary Education no longer exists.

PURPOSE

S.B. 1301 would authorize the Texas State Board of Medical
Examiners to set the annual registration fee for physician
licenses, validate a temporary license for out-of-state physicians
for 180 days and authorize its renewal for an additional 180 days,
and set forth requirements for the licensing of graduates of
certain foreign medical schools.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill grants additional
rulemaking authority to the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners
under SECTION 4 (Section 3.04, Medical Practice Act, Article 4495b,
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 3.01(c), Medical Practice Act (Article
4495b, V.T.C.S.) as follows:

            (2) Authorizes a physician, whose license has been expired
       for 90 days or less, to renew the license by paying to the
       board the required renewal fee and a fee that is one-half
       the annual registration fee as established by the Texas
       State Board of Medical Examiners (board) under Section
       3.10(b)(7) of this Act, instead of a fee that is one-half of
       the examination fee for the license.
       
       (3) Authorizes a physician, whose license has been expired
       for longer than 90 days but less than one year, to renew the
       license by paying all unpaid renewal fees and a fee that is
       equal to the annual registration fee. Deletes the reference
       to an examination fee.
       
       (4) States that a persons's license is considered cancelled
       that has been expired for one year, and adds an exception to
       this if an investigation is pending.
       
       (6) Requires the board to provide written notice to each
       practitioner at least 30 days prior to the expiration date
       of a license, and to provide for a 30-day grace period for
       payment of the annual registration fee from the date of the
       license expiration.
       
     SECTION 2.     Amends Section 3.025(a), Medical Practice Act (Article
4495b, V.T.C.S.), to delete the Council on Medical Specialty
Societies from a list of the entities whose standards the board is
required to take into account in approving hours of continuing
medical education.

SECTION 3. Amends Section 3.0305, Medical Practice Act (Article
4495b, V.T.C.S.), as follows:

     Sec. 3.0305.  (a) Requires an applicant for licensure to be
     granted one temporary license to practice medicine.  
     
     (c) Makes a temporary license valid for 180 days, rather
       than until the date the board approves or denies the
       temporary license holder's application for a license.
       
       (d) Authorizes the temporary license to be renewed for an
       additional 180 days at the discretion of the executive
       director.
     SECTION 4.     Amends Section 3.04, Medical Practice Act (Article
4495b, V.T.C.S.), by adding Subsections (g)-(j), as follows:

     (g) Requires an applicant who is a graduate of a medical
     school located outside the United States and Canada and that
     was not approved by the board at the time the degree was
     conferred, in order to be eligible for the issuance of a
     license, to present certain satisfactory proof to the board.
     
     (h) Authorizes the board, by rule, to establish alternate
     educational prerequisites to those required by Subsection
     (a)(3) of this section for an applicant who graduated from an
     unapproved medical school located outside the United States
     and Canada.
     
     (i) Authorizes the board, before approving the applicant, to
     require by rule that a graduate of an unapproved medical
     school outside the United States and Canada or the school of
     which a person is a graduate provide additional information to
     the board concerning the school, in addition to other license
     requirements.
     
     (j) Authorizes the board to refuse to issue a license to an
     applicant who graduated from an unapproved medical school
     outside the United States and Canada if the applicant does not
     possess the requisite qualifications to provide the same
     standard of medical care as provided by a physician licensed
     in this state, or the applicant failed to provide the board
     the evidence to establish completion of a medical education or
     training substantially equivalent to that provided by a Texas
     medical school.
SECTION 5. Adds Subsection (a)(17) to Section 1.03, Medical
Practice Act (Article 4495b, V.T.C.S.), to add the definitions of
"doctor of osteopathy" and "doctor of osteopathic medicine."
 
SECTION 6. Repeals Sections 3.01(i) (Registration of Practitioners
and Interns), 3.04(e) (Qualification of Licensee), 5.035 (Graduates
of Unapproved Foreign Medical Schools) and 5.04 (Fifth Pathway for
Foreign Medical School Students) of the Medical Practice Act
(Article 4495b, V.T.C.S.).

SECTION 7. Emergency clause.
           Effective date: upon passage.

SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION

S.B. 1301 was considered by the Public Health Committee in a formal
meeting on May 11, 1995. The bill was reported favorably without
amendment, with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed
and be sent to the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars, by the
record vote of 8 AYES, 0 NAYS, 0 PNV, and 1 ABSENT.