Texas 2017 - 85th 1st C.S.

Texas Senate Bill SB85 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	2017S0991-1 07/19/17
2	2	By: Campbell S.B. No. 85
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to reporting requirements by certain physicians and health
8	8	care facilities for abortion complications; authorizing a civil
9	9	penalty.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 171, Health and Safety
12	12	Code, is amended by adding Section 171.006 to read as follows:
13	13	Sec. 171.006. ABORTION COMPLICATION REPORTING
14	14	REQUIREMENTS; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) In this section "abortion
15	15	complication" means any harmful event or adverse outcome with
16	16	respect to a patient related to an abortion that is performed on the
17	17	patient and that is diagnosed or treated by a health care
18	18	practitioner or at a health care facility and includes:
19	19	(1) shock;
20	20	(2) uterine perforation;
21	21	(3) cervical laceration;
22	22	(4) hemorrhage;
23	23	(5) aspiration or allergic response;
24	24	(6) infection;
25	25	(7) sepsis;
26	26	(8) death of the patient;
27	27	(9) incomplete abortion;
28	28	(10) damage to the uterus; or
29	29	(11) an infant born alive after the abortion.
30	30	(b) The reporting requirements of this section apply only
31	31	to:
32	32	(1) a physician who:
33	33	(A) performs at an abortion facility an abortion
34	34	that results in an abortion complication diagnosed or treated by
35	35	that physician; or
36	36	(B) diagnoses or treats at an abortion facility
37	37	an abortion complication that is the result of an abortion
38	38	performed by another physician at the facility; or
39	39	(2) a health care facility that is a hospital,
40	40	abortion facility, freestanding emergency medical care facility,
41	41	or health care facility that provides emergency medical care, as
42	42	defined by Section 773.003.
43	43	(c) A physician described by Subsection (b)(1) shall submit
44	44	to the commission in the form and manner prescribed by commission
45	45	rule a report on each abortion complication diagnosed or treated by
46	46	that physician or at the abortion facility not later than 72 hours
47	47	after the complication is diagnosed or treated. Each health care
48	48	facility described by Subsection (b)(2) shall electronically
49	49	submit to the commission in the form and manner prescribed by
50	50	commission rule a report on each abortion complication diagnosed or
51	51	treated at the facility not later than the 30th day after the date
52	52	on which the complication is diagnosed or treatment is provided for
53	53	the complication.
54	54	(d) The commission shall develop a form for reporting an
55	55	abortion complication under Subsection (c) and publish the form on
56	56	the commission's Internet website. The executive commissioner by
57	57	rule may adopt procedures to reduce duplication in reporting under
58	58	this section.
59	59	(e) A report under this section may not identify by any
60	60	means the physician performing an abortion, other than a physician
61	61	described by Subsection (b)(1), or the patient on whom the abortion
62	62	was performed.
63	63	(f) A report under this section must identify the name of
64	64	the physician submitting the report or the name and type of health
65	65	care facility submitting the report and must include, if known, for
66	66	each abortion complication:
67	67	(1) the date of the abortion that caused or may have
68	68	caused the complication;
69	69	(2) the type of abortion that caused or may have caused
70	70	the complication;
71	71	(3) the gestational age of the fetus at the time the
72	72	abortion was performed;
73	73	(4) the name and type of the facility in which the
74	74	abortion was performed;
75	75	(5) the date the complication was diagnosed or
76	76	treated;
77	77	(6) the name and type of any facility other than the
78	78	reporting facility in which the complication was diagnosed or
79	79	treated;
80	80	(7) a description of the complication;
81	81	(8) the patient's year of birth, race, marital status,
82	82	and state and county of residence;
83	83	(9) the date of the first day of the patient's last
84	84	menstrual period that occurred before the date of the abortion that
85	85	caused or may have caused the complication;
86	86	(10) the number of previous live births of the
87	87	patient; and
88	88	(11) the number of previous induced abortions of the
89	89	patient.
90	90	(g) Except as provided by Section 245.023, all information
91	91	and records held by the commission under this section are
92	92	confidential and are not open records for the purposes of Chapter
93	93	552, Government Code. That information may not be released or made
94	94	public on subpoena or otherwise, except that release may be made:
95	95	(1) for statistical purposes, but only if a person,
96	96	patient, or health care facility is not identified;
97	97	(2) with the consent of each person, patient, and
98	98	facility identified in the information released;
99	99	(3) to medical personnel, appropriate state agencies,
100	100	or county and district courts to enforce this chapter; or
101	101	(4) to appropriate state licensing boards to enforce
102	102	state licensing laws.
103	103	(h) A report submitted under this section must include the
104	104	most specific, accurate, and complete reporting for the highest
105	105	level of specificity.
106	106	(i) The commission shall develop and publish on the
107	107	commission's Internet website an annual report that aggregates on a
108	108	statewide basis each abortion complication required to be reported
109	109	under Subsection (f) for the previous calendar year.
110	110	(j) A physician described by Subsection (b)(1) or health
111	111	care facility that violates this section is subject to a civil
112	112	penalty of $500 for each violation. The attorney general, at the
113	113	request of the commission or appropriate licensing agency, may file
114	114	an action to recover a civil penalty assessed under this subsection
115	115	and may recover attorney's fees and costs incurred in bringing the
116	116	action. Each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate
117	117	ground for recovery.
118	118	(k) The third separate violation of this section
119	119	constitutes cause for the revocation or suspension of a physician's
120	120	or health care facility's license, permit, registration,
121	121	certificate, or other authority or for other disciplinary action
122	122	against the physician or facility by the appropriate licensing
123	123	agency.
124	124	(l) Not later than the seventh day after the date the
125	125	commission discovers a violation of this section by a physician,
126	126	the commission shall notify the Texas Medical Board of the
127	127	violation.
128	128	SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2018:
129	129	(1) the Health and Human Services Commission shall
130	130	develop the forms required by Section 171.006, Health and Safety
131	131	Code, as added by this Act; and
132	132	(2) the executive commissioner of the Health and Human
133	133	Services Commission shall adopt the rules necessary to implement
134	134	Section 171.006, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.
135	135	SECTION 3. The Health and Human Services Commission shall
136	136	establish an electronic reporting system for purposes of Section
137	137	171.006, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, as soon as
138	138	practicable after the effective date of this Act.
139	139	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
140	140	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
141	141	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
142	142	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
143	143	Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
144	144	legislative session.