H.R. No. 2628
R E S O L U T I O N
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the State of
Texas, 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017, That House Rule 13,
Section 9(a), be suspended in part as provided by House Rule 13,
Section 9(f), to enable the conference committee appointed to
resolve the differences on Senate Bill 1148 (maintenance of
certification by a physician or an applicant for a license to
practice medicine in this state) to consider and take action on the
following matter:
House Rule 13, Section 9(a)(4), is suspended to permit the
committee to add text on a matter not included in either the house
or senate version of the bill by adding SECTION 3 to the bill to read
as follows:
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 151, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 151.0515 to read as follows:
Sec. 151.0515. DISCRIMINATION BASED ON MAINTENANCE OF
CERTIFICATION. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section,
the following entities may not differentiate between physicians
based on a physician's maintenance of certification:
(1) a health facility that is licensed under Subtitle
B, Title 4, Health and Safety Code, or a mental hospital that is
licensed under Chapter 577, Health and Safety Code, if the facility
or hospital has an organized medical staff or a process for
credentialing physicians;
(2) a hospital that is owned or operated by this state;
(3) an institution or program that is owned, operated,
or licensed by this state, including an institution or program that
directly or indirectly receives state financial assistance, if the
institution or program:
(A) has an organized medical staff or a process
for credentialing physicians on its staff; and
(B) is not a medical school, as defined by
Section 61.501, Education Code, or a comprehensive cancer center,
as designated by the National Cancer Institute; or
(4) an institution or program that is owned, operated,
or licensed by a political subdivision of this state, if the
institution or program has an organized medical staff or a process
for credentialing physicians on its staff.
(b) An entity described by Subsection (a) may differentiate
between physicians based on a physician's maintenance of
certification if:
(1) the entity's designation under law or
certification or accreditation by a national certifying or
accrediting organization is contingent on the entity requiring a
specific maintenance of certification by physicians seeking staff
privileges or credentialing at the entity; and
(2) the differentiation is limited to those physicians
whose maintenance of certification is required for the entity's
designation, certification, or accreditation as described by
Subdivision (1).
(c) An entity described by Subsection (a) may differentiate
between physicians based on a physician's maintenance of
certification if the voting physician members of the entity's
organized medical staff vote to authorize the differentiation.
(d) An authorization described by Subsection (c) may:
(1) be made only by the voting physician members of the
entity's organized medical staff and not by the entity's governing
body, administration, or any other person;
(2) subject to Subsection (e), establish terms
applicable to the entity's differentiation, including:
(A) appropriate grandfathering provisions; and
(B) limiting the differentiation to certain
medical specialties; and
(3) be rescinded at any time by a vote of the voting
physician members of the entity's organized medical staff.
(e) Terms established under Subsection (d)(2) may not
conflict with a maintenance of certification requirement
applicable to the entity's designation under law or certification
or accreditation by a national certifying or accrediting
organization.
Explanation: The change is necessary to provide that certain
entities may not differentiate between physicians based on a
physician's maintenance of certification except in certain
circumstances.
Bonnen of Galveston
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 2628 was adopted by the House on May
28, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House