By: Chisum H.B. No. 729
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 729:
By: Jackson C.S.H.B. No. 729
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the board of directors of the Ochiltree
County Hospital District to employ health care providers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1071.062, Special District Local Laws
Code, is amended by amending Subsections (b) and (c) and adding
Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(b) The board may employ physicians, technicians, nurses,
other health care providers, fiscal agents, accountants, and other
necessary employees.
(c) The board may delegate to the district administrator the
authority to hire employees under Subsection (b) other than
physicians.
(d) This subchapter may not be construed as authorizing the
governing body of a hospital to supervise or control the practice of
medicine, as prohibited under Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations
Code.
SECTION 2. Section 1071.064, Special District Local Laws
Code, is amended by adding Subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and
(g) to read as follows:
(b) The board may employ a physician and retain all or part
of the professional income generated by the physician for medical
services provided at the hospital and other health facilities owned
or operated by the hospital if the hospital satisfies the
requirements of this subchapter.
(c) The board shall:
(1) appoint a chief medical officer, who may be a
member of the hospital's medical staff; and
(2) adopt, maintain, and enforce policies to ensure
that a physician employed by the hospital exercises the physician's
independent medical judgment in providing care to patients at the
hospital.
(d) The policies adopted under this section must include:
(1) policies relating to:
(A) credentialing;
(B) quality assurance;
(C) utilization review;
(D) peer review; and
(E) medical decision-making; and
(2) the implementation of a complaint mechanism to
process and resolve complaints regarding interference or attempted
interference with a physician's independent medical judgment.
(e) For all matters relating to the practice of medicine,
each physician employed by the hospital under this subchapter shall
ultimately report to the chief medical officer of the hospital.
(f) The policies adopted under this section:
(1) must be approved by the chief medical officer of
the hospital; and
(2) shall control and prevail in the event of a
conflict with any other policies of a hospital under this
subchapter.
(g) The chief medical officer shall immediately report to
the Texas Medical Board any action or event that the chief medical
officer reasonably and in good faith believes constitutes a
compromise of the independent medical judgment of a physician in
caring for a patient."
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.