86R7022 SRA-F
By: Flynn H.B. No. 1227
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to authority of the Hunt Memorial Hospital District to
appoint, contract for, or employ physicians.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 1044, Special District
Local Laws Code, is amended by adding Section 1044.0605 to read as
follows:
Sec. 1044.0605. EMPLOYMENT OF PHYSICIANS. (a) The board
may appoint, contract for, or employ physicians as the board
considers necessary for the efficient operation of the district.
(b) The term of an employment contract entered into under
this section may not exceed four years.
(c) This section may not be construed as authorizing the
board to supervise or control the practice of medicine, as
prohibited by Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code.
(d) The authority granted to the board under Subsection (a)
to employ physicians shall apply as necessary for the district to
fulfill the district's statutory mandate to provide medical care
for the needy and indigent residents of the district as provided by
Section 1044.101.
(e) The medical executive board of the district shall adopt,
maintain, and enforce policies to ensure that a physician employed
by the district exercises the physician's independent medical
judgment in providing care to patients.
(f) The policies adopted by the medical executive board
under this section must include:
(1) policies relating to:
(A) governance of the medical executive board;
(B) credentialing;
(C) quality assurance;
(D) utilization review;
(E) peer review;
(F) medical decision-making; and
(G) due process; and
(2) rules requiring the disclosure of financial
conflicts of interest by a member of the medical executive board.
(g) The medical executive board and the district's board
shall jointly develop and implement a conflict management process
to resolve any conflict between a policy adopted by the medical
executive board under this section and a policy of the district.
(h) A member of the medical executive board who is a
physician shall provide biennially to the chair of the medical
executive board a signed, verified statement indicating that the
board member:
(1) is licensed by the Texas Medical Board;
(2) will exercise independent medical judgment in all
medical executive board matters, including matters relating to:
(A) credentialing;
(B) quality assurance;
(C) utilization review;
(D) peer review;
(E) medical decision-making; and
(F) due process;
(3) will exercise the board member's best efforts to
ensure compliance with the policies that are adopted or established
by the medical executive board; and
(4) will report immediately to the Texas Medical Board
any action or event that the board member reasonably and in good
faith believes constitutes a compromise of the independent medical
judgment of a physician in caring for a patient.
(i) For all matters relating to the practice of medicine,
each physician employed by the district shall ultimately report to
the chair of the medical executive board for the district.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.