83R10012 EES-D By: Zedler H.B. No. 1876 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to the ability of certain professional associations of chiropractors to hire physicians. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 301.006(a), Business Organizations Code, is amended to read as follows: (a) Except as provided by Section 301.013, 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 provided by the entity. SECTION 2. Chapter 301, Business Organizations Code, is amended by adding Section 301.013 to read as follows: Sec. 301.013. EMPLOYMENT OF DOCTOR OF MEDICINE OR OSTEOPATHY BY CERTAIN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS. (a) A professional association formed and owned by persons licensed as chiropractors by the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners may employ a person licensed by the Texas Medical Board as a doctor of medicine or as a doctor of osteopathy to perform professional services that fall within the scope of practice of the practitioner. (b) If a professional association formed and owned by chiropractors employs a doctor of medicine or a doctor of osteopathy as described by Subsection (a), the authority of each practitioner, both owners and employees, 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. Chapter 162, Occupations Code, is amended by adding Subchapter F to read as follows: SUBCHAPTER F. EMPLOYMENT OF PHYSICIANS BY CERTAIN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS Sec. 162.251. PATIENT CARE. A physician employed by a professional association formed and owned by chiropractors in accordance with Section 301.013, Business Organizations Code, shall retain independent medical judgment in providing care to patients. SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.