By Duncan                                              S.B. No. 407
         76R5492 SMH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to fees charged by a physician for providing a patient
 1-3     with a copy of the patient's medical records.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 5.08(o), Medical Practice Act (Article
 1-6     4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
 1-7     follows:
 1-8           (o)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, the
 1-9     [The] physician may charge a reasonable fee for copying medical
1-10     records and is not required to permit examination or copying until
1-11     the fee is paid unless there is a medical emergency.  The board by
1-12     rule shall prescribe what constitutes reasonable fees for purposes
1-13     of this subsection.  The physician may not charge a patient a fee
1-14     for copying the patient's medical records if the number of pages
1-15     copied does not exceed 10 pages.
1-16           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-21     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-22     passage, and it is so enacted.