2019S0287-1 02/26/19
By: Perry S.B. No. 1690
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of the Lubbock County Hospital District
of Lubbock County, Texas, to employ physicians.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 1053, Special District
Local Laws Code, is amended by adding Section 1053.0601 to read as
follows:
Sec. 1053.0601. EMPLOYMENT OF PHYSICIANS. (a) In this
section:
(1) "Facility-based services" means emergency
medicine, general hospital medicine, and radiology services
provided at a hospital or other health care facility.
(2) "Other health care facility" means an ambulatory
surgical center, emergency center, cancer center, or imaging center
operated separately from a hospital.
(b) The board may employ physicians as the board considers
necessary to provide facility-based services at a hospital or other
health care facility owned or operated by the district as provided
by this section. The board may retain all or part of the
professional income generated by a physician employed by the
district for such facility-based services if the board satisfies
the requirements of this section.
(c) The term of an employment contract entered into under
this section may not exceed five years.
(d) 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.
(e) The authority granted to the board under Subsection (b)
to employ physicians shall apply as necessary for the district to
fulfill its statutory mandate to provide medical and hospital care
for district residents, including needy and indigent residents, as
provided by Sections 1053.101 and 1053.104.
(f) The medical executive committee of the district shall
adopt, maintain, and enforce policies and rules to ensure that a
physician employed by the district exercises the physician's
independent medical judgment in providing care to patients.
(g) The policies and rules adopted by the medical executive
committee under this section must include:
(1) policies relating to:
(A) governance of the committee;
(B) credentialing;
(C) quality assurance;
(D) utilization review;
(E) peer review;
(F) medical decision-making;
(G) due process; and
(H) covenants not to compete that comply with
Section 15.50, Business & Commerce Code; and
(2) rules requiring the disclosure of financial
conflicts of interest by a member of the committee.
(h) The medical executive committee and the board shall
jointly develop and implement a conflict management process to
resolve any conflict between a policy or rule adopted by the
committee under this section and a policy or rule of the district.
(i) A member of the medical executive committee who is a
physician shall provide biennially to the chair of the committee a
signed, verified statement indicating that the committee member:
(1) is licensed by the Texas Medical Board;
(2) will exercise independent medical judgment in all
committee 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 committee member's best efforts
to ensure compliance with the policies and rules that are adopted or
established by the committee; and
(4) will report immediately to the Texas Medical Board
any action or event that the committee member reasonably and in good
faith believes constitutes a compromise of the independent medical
judgment of a physician in caring for a patient.
(j) 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 committee.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.