1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the employment of certain physicians by a private
1-3 medical school.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter E, Medical Practice Act (Article
1-6 4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Section
1-7 5.12 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 5.12. EMPLOYMENT OF PHYSICIANS BY PRIVATE MEDICAL
1-9 SCHOOL. (a) A private nonprofit medical school that is certified
1-10 under Subsection (d) of this section, accredited by the Liaison
1-11 Committee on Medical Education, and that was appropriated funds by
1-12 the legislature in the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, may
1-13 retain, in fulfilling its educational mission, all or part of the
1-14 professional income generated by a physician for medical services
1-15 if the physician is employed as a faculty member of the school and
1-16 provides medical services as part of the physician's
1-17 responsibilities.
1-18 (b) A private medical school subject to this section shall
1-19 establish a committee consisting of at least five actively
1-20 practicing physicians who provide care in the clinical program of
1-21 the private medical school. The committee shall approve existing
1-22 policies, or adopt new policies if none exist, to ensure that a
1-23 physician whose professional income is retained under Subsection
1-24 (a) of this section is exercising the physician's independent
2-1 medical judgment in providing care to patients in the school's
2-2 clinical programs. The policies adopted under this subsection must
2-3 include policies relating to credentialing, quality assurance,
2-4 utilization review, peer review, medical decision-making,
2-5 governance of the committee, and due process.
2-6 (c) Each member of a committee under Subsection (b) of this
2-7 section shall provide to the board biennially a signed and verified
2-8 statement indicating that the member:
2-9 (1) is licensed by the board;
2-10 (2) will exercise independent medical judgment in all
2-11 committee matters, specifically in matters relating to
2-12 credentialing, quality assurance, utilization review, peer review,
2-13 medical decision-making, and due process;
2-14 (3) will exercise the member's best efforts to ensure
2-15 compliance with the private medical school's policies that are
2-16 adopted or established by the committee; and
2-17 (4) shall report immediately to the board any action
2-18 or event that the member reasonably and in good faith believes
2-19 constitutes a compromise of the independent judgment of a physician
2-20 in caring for a patient in the private medical school's clinical
2-21 program or in carrying out the member's duties as a committee
2-22 member.
2-23 (d) A private school that retains a physician's professional
2-24 income under Subsection (a) of this section must be certified by
2-25 the board as being in compliance with this section. The board
2-26 shall prescribe an application form to be provided to the school
2-27 and may adopt rules as necessary to administer this section. The
3-1 board may prescribe and assess a fee for the certification of a
3-2 school and for investigation and review of the school in an amount
3-3 not to exceed the fee assessed on an organization described by
3-4 Section 5.01(a) of this Act.
3-5 (e) A private medical school certified under Subsection (d)
3-6 of this section must provide to the board a biennial report
3-7 certifying that the school is in compliance with this section. If
3-8 the board determines at any time that the private medical school
3-9 has failed to comply with this section, the board may suspend or
3-10 revoke the school's certification.
3-11 (f) A private medical school's authority to retain a
3-12 physician's professional income does not apply to a physician
3-13 providing care in a facility owned or operated by the school that
3-14 is established outside the school's historical geographical service
3-15 area as it existed on the effective date of this section.
3-16 (g) The board shall adopt rules requiring the disclosure of
3-17 financial conflicts of interest by a committee member.
3-18 (h) This section does not affect the reporting requirements
3-19 under Section 5.06(d) of this Act.
3-20 (i) This section does not apply to a private medical school
3-21 certified under this section if all or substantially all of the
3-22 school's assets are sold.
3-23 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
3-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-2 passage, and it is so enacted.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1491 was passed by the House on April
21, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1491 on May 22, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0,
1 present, not voting; and that the House adopted H.C.R. No. 298
authorizing certain corrections in H.B. No. 1491 on May 25, 1999,
by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1491 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 20, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0; and that the Senate adopted H.C.R. No. 298 authorizing certain
corrections in H.B. No. 1491 on May 25, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor