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.