This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
78R1654 JMM-D
By: Allen H.B. No. 6
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation and enforcement of the practice of
medicine by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 153, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 153.014 to read as follows:
Sec. 153.014. PHYSICIAN EDUCATION AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
(a) The board shall establish a physician education and assistance
program to ensure that all physicians licensed under this subtitle
have sufficient knowledge regarding current medical technology and
other developments in the practice of medicine.
(b) As part of the program established under this section,
the board shall establish a procedure to identify and provide
assistance to physicians who may be at risk of committing medical
errors or other acts of malpractice.
SECTION 2. Section 164.051, Occupations Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read
as follows:
(a) The board may refuse to admit a person to its
examination or refuse to issue a license to practice medicine and
may take disciplinary action against a person if the person:
(1) commits an act prohibited under Section 164.052;
(2) is convicted of:
(A) a felony; or
(B) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude;
(3) commits or attempts to commit a direct or indirect
violation of a rule adopted under this subtitle, either as a
principal, accessory, or accomplice;
(4) is unable to practice medicine with reasonable
skill and safety to patients because of:
(A) illness;
(B) drunkenness;
(C) excessive use of drugs, narcotics,
chemicals, or another substance; or
(D) a mental or physical condition;
(5) is found by a court judgment to be of unsound mind;
(6) fails to practice medicine in an acceptable
professional manner consistent with public health and welfare;
(7) is removed, suspended, or is subject to
disciplinary action taken by the person's peers in a local,
regional, state, or national professional medical association or
society, or is disciplined by a licensed hospital or medical staff
of a hospital, including removal, suspension, limitation of
hospital privileges, or other disciplinary action, if the board
finds that the action:
(A) was based on unprofessional conduct or
professional incompetence that was likely to harm the public; and
(B) was appropriate and reasonably supported by
evidence submitted to the board;
(8) is subject to repeated or recurring meritorious
health care liability claims that in the board's opinion evidence
professional incompetence likely to injure the public; or
(9) except as provided by Subsection (d), holds a
license to practice medicine subject to disciplinary action by
another state, or subject to disciplinary action by the uniformed
services of the United States, based on acts by the person that are
prohibited under Section 164.052 or are similar to acts described
by this subsection.
(c) A certified copy of the record of another state that
takes action described by Subsection (a)(9) or (d) is conclusive
evidence of that action.
(d) The board shall revoke a license issued under this
subtitle if the license holder held a license to practice medicine
in another state that has been revoked by the licensing authority in
that state.
SECTION 3. Section 164.057, Occupations Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 164.057. REQUIRED SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE
FOR CERTAIN [FELONY] OFFENSES. (a) The board shall suspend a
physician's license on proof that the physician has been:
(1) initially convicted of:
(A) a felony; or
(B) any other offense that is a violent crime; or
(2) subject to an initial finding by the trier of fact
of guilt of a felony under:
(A) [(1)] Chapter 481 or 483, Health and Safety
Code;
(B) [(2)] Section 485.033, Health and Safety
Code; or
(C) [(3)] the Comprehensive Drug Abuse
Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (21 U.S.C. Section 801 et seq.).
(b) On final conviction for an offense [a felony] described
by Subsection (a), the board shall revoke the physician's license.
(c) The board shall adopt rules that prescribe the offenses
for which a conviction is considered to be a conviction of a violent
crime under Subsection (a)(1)(B).
SECTION 4. Section 164.059, Occupations Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (e) and (f) to read as follows:
(e) The board by rule shall adopt guidelines to assist in
determining whether a license holder's continuation in practice
constitutes a threat to the public welfare for purposes of this
section and Section 164.001(c).
(f) The board and the State Office of Administrative
Hearings shall expedite any informal settlement conference,
hearing, or other decision resulting from a temporary suspension
under this section.
SECTION 5. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.
(b) The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners shall:
(1) establish the physician education and assistance
program required by Section 153.014, Occupations Code, as added by
this Act, not later than January 1, 2004; and
(2) adopt rules required by Sections 164.057(c) and
164.059(e), Occupations Code, as added by this Act, not later than
January 1, 2004.
(c) The change in law made by this Act by the amendment of
Section 164.051, Occupations Code, applies to a physician whose
license to practice medicine in another state was revoked on,
before, or after the effective date of this Act.
(d) The change in law made by this Act by the amendment of
Section 164.057, Occupations Code, applies only to a person who is
initially convicted of an offense on or after January 1, 2004. A
person initially convicted of an offense before that date is
governed by the law in effect on the date the conviction occurred,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.