By Harris                                              H.B. No. 585
       74R2949 KLL-F
                                 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 osteopathic medicine.
    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.  HOSPITAL STAFF PRIVILEGES FOR DOCTORS OF
    1-8  MEDICINE AND DOCTORS OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE.  (a)  It is the
    1-9  policy of this state that holders of degrees of doctor of medicine
   1-10  and doctor of osteopathic medicine shall have equal professional
   1-11  status and privileges as licensed physicians.  A hospital may not
   1-12  discriminate with respect to staff privileges against a physician
   1-13  who is licensed on the basis of holding a degree of doctor of
   1-14  osteopathic medicine rather than the degree of doctor of medicine.
   1-15        (b)  If a hospital's bylaw requirements for staff privileges
   1-16  require a physician to be residency trained, to be certified or
   1-17  eligible for certification by an American Medical
   1-18  Association-recognized specialty certification board, or to have
   1-19  completed a residency program accredited by the Accreditation
   1-20  Council for Graduate Medical Education, hospital staff privileges
   1-21  must be made available on an equal basis to a physician who has
   1-22  completed a residency program accredited by the American
   1-23  Osteopathic Association or who is certified or eligible for
   1-24  certification by an American Osteopathic Association-recognized
    2-1  osteopathic specialty board.
    2-2        (c)  If a hospital's bylaw requirements for staff privileges
    2-3  require a physician to be residency trained, to be certified or
    2-4  eligible for certification by an American Osteopathic
    2-5  Association-recognized osteopathic specialty board, or to have
    2-6  completed a residency program accredited by the American
    2-7  Osteopathic Association, hospital staff privileges must be made
    2-8  available on an equal basis to a physician who has completed a
    2-9  residency program accredited by the Accreditation Council for
   2-10  Graduate Medical Education or who is certified or eligible for
   2-11  certification by an American Medical Association-recognized
   2-12  specialty certification board.
   2-13        (d)  A hospital may not use a preapplication form to
   2-14  discriminate against a physician with respect to an academic
   2-15  medical degree, residency training, or certification.
   2-16        (e)  A hospital may not adopt written bylaws that circumvent
   2-17  the legislative intent to give equal professional status and
   2-18  privileges to doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathic
   2-19  medicine or to circumvent any other nondiscriminatory provisions in
   2-20  the Medical Practice Act (Article 4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil
   2-21  Statutes) or any other law applicable to osteopathic physicians.
   2-22        (f)  A hospital's credentials committee shall act
   2-23  expeditiously and without unnecessary delay when a licensed doctor
   2-24  of medicine or doctor of osteopathic medicine submits a completed
   2-25  application for permission to treat patients in the hospital.  The
   2-26  hospital's credentials committee shall take final action on the
   2-27  completed application not later than the 90th day after the date
    3-1  the application is received.  The hospital must notify the
    3-2  applicant in writing of the hospital's final action, including a
    3-3  reason for denial of or restriction on the completed application,
    3-4  not later than the 20th day after the date of the final action.
    3-5        (g)  On receipt of a complaint of discrimination by an
    3-6  aggrieved physician with respect to an academic medical degree,
    3-7  residency training, or certification, the district attorney of the
    3-8  county in which a violation under this section occurs or the
    3-9  district attorney of Travis County may bring an action to enjoin
   3-10  the violation.
   3-11        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-16  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-17  passage, and it is so enacted.