84R7832 EES-D

By: Bell H.B. No. 1864

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the ability of professional associations to hire certain health care professionals.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 301.003(5), Business Organizations Code, is amended to read as follows:

(5) "Professional individual[,]" [with respect to a professional entity,] means:

(A) with respect to a professional corporation or professional limited liability company, an individual who is licensed to provide in this state or another jurisdiction the same professional service as is rendered by that professional entity; or

(B) with respect to a professional association, an individual who is licensed to provide in this state or another jurisdiction the same professional service that:

(i) the individuals who formed and own the professional association are licensed to provide; and

(ii) the professional association was formed to provide.

SECTION 2. Section 301.006, Business Organizations Code, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) to read as follows:

(a) Except as provided by Subsection (a-1), a [A] professional association or foreign professional association may provide a professional service in this state only through owners, managerial officials, employees, or agents, each of whom:

(1) is a professional individual; and

(2) is licensed in this state to provide the same professional service that:

(A) the individuals who formed and own the professional association are licensed to provide; and

(B) the professional association was formed to provide [provided by the entity].

(a-1) A professional association or foreign professional association may employ any of the following practitioners to perform the professional service that the practitioner is licensed in this state to provide, even if that professional service is different from the professional service that the practitioners who formed and own the professional association are licensed to provide and that the professional association was formed to provide:

(1) a doctor of medicine;

(2) a doctor of osteopathy;

(3) a doctor of podiatry;

(4) a dentist;

(5) a chiropractor;

(6) an optometrist;

(7) a therapeutic optometrist;

(8) a veterinarian; and

(9) a licensed mental health professional.

(a-2) If a professional association or foreign professional association employs a practitioner listed under Subsection (a-1), the authority of each practitioner who is an owner, managerial official, employee, or agent of the professional association is limited to the practitioner's scope of practice, and a practitioner may not exercise control over another practitioner's clinical authority granted under the practitioner's respective license, either through an agreement, bylaw, directive, financial incentive, or other arrangement that would assert control over a treatment decision made by the practitioner.

SECTION 3. Subtitle A, Title 3, Occupations Code, is amended by adding Chapter 117 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 117. EMPLOYMENT OF HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS BY

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Sec. 117.001. PATIENT CARE. A physician, podiatrist, dentist, chiropractor, optometrist, therapeutic optometrist, or licensed mental health professional, as that term is defined by Section 301.003, Business Organizations Code, employed by a professional association in accordance with Section 301.006(a-1), Business Organizations Code, shall retain independent clinical judgment in providing care to patients.

SECTION 4. Subchapter H, Chapter 801, Occupations Code, is amended by adding Section 801.367 to read as follows:

Sec. 801.367. INDEPENDENT CLINICAL JUDGMENT. A veterinarian employed by a professional association in accordance with Section 301.006(a-1), Business Organizations Code, shall retain independent clinical judgment in providing care to animals.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.