1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the confidentiality of records regarding the compliance
1-3 monitoring of physicians by the Texas State Board of Medical
1-4 Examiners.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 160.006(a), Occupations Code, is amended
1-7 to read as follows:
1-8 (a) A record, report, or other information received and
1-9 maintained by the board under this subchapter or Subchapter B,
1-10 including any material received or developed by the board during an
1-11 investigation or hearing and the identity of, and reports made by,
1-12 a physician performing or supervising compliance monitoring for the
1-13 board, is confidential. The board may disclose this information
1-14 only:
1-15 (1) in a disciplinary hearing before the board or in a
1-16 subsequent trial or appeal of a board action or order;
1-17 (2) to the physician licensing or disciplinary
1-18 authority of another jurisdiction, to a local, state, or national
1-19 professional medical society or association, or to a medical peer
1-20 review committee located inside or outside this state that is
1-21 concerned with granting, limiting, or denying a physician hospital
1-22 privileges;
1-23 (3) under a court order; or
1-24 (4) to qualified personnel for bona fide research or
2-1 educational purposes, if personally identifiable information
2-2 relating to any physician or other individual is first deleted.
2-3 SECTION 2. Section 164.007(c), Occupations Code, is amended
2-4 to read as follows:
2-5 (c) Each complaint, adverse report, investigation file,
2-6 other investigation report, and other investigative information in
2-7 the possession of or received or gathered by the board or its
2-8 employees or agents relating to a license holder, an application
2-9 for license, or a criminal investigation or proceeding is
2-10 privileged and confidential and is not subject to discovery,
2-11 subpoena, or other means of legal compulsion for release to anyone
2-12 other than the board or its employees or agents involved in
2-13 discipline of a license holder. For purposes of this subsection,
2-14 investigative information includes information relating to the
2-15 identity of, and a report made by, a physician performing or
2-16 supervising compliance monitoring for the board.
2-17 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-18 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-19 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
2-20 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
2-21 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3600 was passed by the House on May
5, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 3600 on May 25, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 110, Nays 0,
1 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3600 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 22, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
0, 1 present, not voting.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________________
Date
__________________________
Governor