By: Deuell S.B. No. 546
(In the Senate - Filed February 8, 2011; February 17, 2011,
read first time and referred to Committee on Health and Human
Services; April 21, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 1;
April 21, 2011, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 546 By: Deuell
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the dispensing of certain drugs by physicians.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 158.001, Occupations
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) A physician may dispense dangerous drugs to the
physician's patients and charge the patients a reasonable fee for
dispensing the drugs [This section does not permit a physician to
operate a retail pharmacy] without complying with Chapter 558.
Before dispensing a dangerous drug, the physician must notify the
patient that the prescription for the dangerous drug may be filled
at a pharmacy. The board shall adopt rules to establish a procedure
for the dispensing of dangerous drugs by a physician.
SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 551.004, Occupations
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) This subtitle does not prevent a practitioner from:
(1) administering a drug to a patient of the
practitioner; or
(2) supplying dangerous drugs to a patient as provided
by Section 158.001(b).
SECTION 3. Section 158.003, Occupations Code, is repealed.
SECTION 4. (a) The Texas Medical Board shall adopt rules
to implement Subsection (b), Section 158.001, Occupations Code, as
amended by this Act, not later than December 1, 2011.
(b) The changes in law made by this Act apply to the
dispensing of a dangerous drug by a physician on or after December
1, 2011. The dispensing of a dangerous drug before December 1,
2011, is governed by the law in effect at the time the drug was
dispensed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 5. 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.
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