By:  Duncan                                            S.B. No. 583
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to liens for certain services provided by physicians.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 55.004, Property Code, is amended to read
 1-5     as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 55.004.  AMOUNT OF LIEN.  (a)  In this section,
 1-7     "emergency hospital care" means health care services provided in a
 1-8     hospital to evaluate, stabilize, and treat a serious medical
 1-9     problem of recent onset or severity, including severe pain that
1-10     would lead a prudent layperson possessing an average knowledge of
1-11     medicine and health to believe that the condition, illness, or
1-12     injury is of such a nature that failure to obtain immediate medical
1-13     care would in all reasonable probability:
1-14                 (1)  seriously jeopardize the patient's health;
1-15                 (2)  seriously impair one or more bodily functions;
1-16                 (3)  seriously harm an organ or other part of the body;
1-17                 (4)  cause serious disfigurement; or
1-18                 (5)  in the case of a pregnant woman, seriously
1-19     jeopardize the health of the fetus.
1-20           (b)  The lien is for the amount of the hospital's charges for
1-21     services provided to the injured individual during the first 100
1-22     days of the injured individual's hospitalization.
1-23           (c)  The lien may also include the amount of a physician's
1-24     reasonable and necessary charges for emergency hospital care
1-25     services provided to the injured individual during the first seven
 2-1     days of the injured individual's hospitalization.  At the request
 2-2     of the physician, the hospital may act on the physician's behalf in
 2-3     securing and discharging the lien.
 2-4           (d)  The[, except that the] lien does not cover:
 2-5                 (1)  charges for operating costs that exceed the cost
 2-6     limits established under Section 413.30 [405.460], 42 Code of
 2-7     Federal Regulations; [or]
 2-8                 (2)  charges for other services that exceed a
 2-9     reasonable and regular rate for the services;
2-10                 (3)  charges by the physician related to any services
2-11     provided under Subsection (c) for which the physician has accepted
2-12     insurance benefits or payment under a private medical indemnity
2-13     plan or program, regardless of whether the benefits or payment
2-14     equals the full amount of the physician's charges for those
2-15     services; or
2-16                 (4)  charges by the physician for services provided
2-17     under Subsection (c) if the injured individual has coverage under a
2-18     private medical indemnity plan or program from which the physician
2-19     is entitled to recover payment for the physician's services under
2-20     an assignment of benefits or similar rights.
2-21           (e) [(b)]  The lien is not affected by a hospital's use of a
2-22     method of classifying patients according to their ability to pay
2-23     that is solely intended to obtain a lien for services provided to
2-24     an indigent injured individual.
2-25           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
2-26           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies only to
 3-1     health care services provided by a physician on or after the
 3-2     effective date of this Act.  Health care services provided by a
 3-3     physician before the effective date of this Act are covered by the
 3-4     law in effect at the time the services were provided, and the
 3-5     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.