1-1 By: Duncan, Harris S.B. No. 384
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 3, 1999; February 4, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 March 17, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; March 17, 1999,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 384 By: Luna
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to liens for certain services provided by physicians.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 55.004, Property Code, is amended to read
1-13 as follows:
1-14 Sec. 55.004. AMOUNT OF LIEN. (a) The lien is for the
1-15 amount of the hospital's charges for services provided to the
1-16 injured individual during the first 100 days of the injured
1-17 individual's hospitalization.
1-18 (b) The lien may also include the amount of a physician's
1-19 reasonable and necessary charges for emergency care services
1-20 provided to the injured individual during the first seven days of
1-21 the injured individual's hospitalization. At the request of the
1-22 physician, the hospital may act on behalf of the physician with
1-23 respect to securing and discharging the lien.
1-24 (c) "Emergency care" means health care services received in
1-25 a hospital provided to evaluate and stabilize serious medical
1-26 conditions of a recent onset and severity, including but not
1-27 limited to severe pain that would lead a prudent layperson
1-28 possessing an average knowledge of medicine and health to believe
1-29 that his or her condition, sickness, or injury is of such a nature
1-30 that failure to get immediate medical care would in all reasonable
1-31 probability:
1-32 (1) place the patient's health in serious jeopardy;
1-33 (2) seriously impair bodily functions;
1-34 (3) cause serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or
1-35 part;
1-36 (4) cause serious disfigurement; or
1-37 (5) in the case of a pregnant woman, seriously
1-38 jeopardize the health of the fetus.
1-39 (d) The[, except that the] lien does not cover:
1-40 (1) charges for operating costs that exceed the cost
1-41 limits established under Section 405.460, 42 Code of Federal
1-42 Regulations; [or]
1-43 (2) charges for other services that exceed a
1-44 reasonable and regular rate for the services; or
1-45 (3) any services for which the physician has accepted
1-46 insurance benefits or payment under any private medical indemnity
1-47 plan or program.
1-48 (e) [(b)] The lien is not affected by a hospital's use of a
1-49 method of classifying patients according to their ability to pay
1-50 that is solely intended to obtain a lien for services provided to
1-51 an indigent injured individual.
1-52 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-53 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to
1-54 health care services provided by a physician on or after the
1-55 effective date of this Act. Health care services provided by a
1-56 physician before the effective date of this Act are covered by the
1-57 law in effect at the time the services were provided, and the
1-58 former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-59 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-60 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-61 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-62 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-63 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-64 * * * * *