By Brimer                                             H.B. No. 2505
         76R8699 T                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to medical benefits under the workers' compensation
 1-3     system.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 408.022, Labor Code, is amended as
 1-6     follows:
 1-7           Sec. 408.022.  Selection of Doctor.  (a)  except in an
 1-8     emergency, the commission shall require an employee to receive
 1-9     medical treatment from a doctor chosen from a list of doctors
1-10     approved by the commission.  A doctor may perform only those
1-11     procedures that are within the scope of the practice for which the
1-12     doctor is licensed.  The employee is entitled to choose the injured
1-13     employees treating doctor from a list of treating doctors and
1-14     providers supplied by the employer or the employers' designee for
1-15     at least the first 100 days after the date the injury is reported
1-16     to the employer.
1-17           (b)  If an employee is dissatisfied with the initial
1-18     selection of doctor from the commission's list, after the
1-19     expiration of 100 days, the employee may notify the commission and
1-20     request authority to select an alternate doctor.  The notification
1-21     must be in writing stating the reasons for the change, except
1-22     notification may be by telephone when a medical necessity exists
1-23     for immediate change.
1-24           SECTION 2.  This act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-1     applies to a compensable injury that occurs on or after that
 2-2     effective date.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.