H.B. No. 1998
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of physicians, the disciplinary
authority of the Texas Medical Board, and the administration of the
Texas Physician Health Program; increasing a criminal penalty;
imposing a surcharge.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 153.051(d), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) The board may not set, charge, collect, receive, or
deposit any of the following fees in excess of:
(1) $900 for a license;
(2) $400 for a first registration permit;
(3) $200 for a temporary license;
(4) $400 for renewal of a registration permit;
(5) $200 for a physician-in-training permit;
(6) $600 for the processing of an application and the
issuance of a registration for anesthesia in an outpatient setting;
(7) $200 for an endorsement to other state medical
boards;
(8) $200 for a duplicate license;
(9) $700 for a reinstated license after cancellation
for cause; or
(10) $15 [$1,200] for a surcharge [an annual fee]
under Section 153.053 to administer [167.011(c) for a program
participant in] the Texas Physician Health Program, due at the time
of license issuance and registration permit renewal.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 153, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 153.053 to read as follows:
Sec. 153.053. SURCHARGE TO ADMINISTER TEXAS PHYSICIAN
HEALTH PROGRAM. (a) The board shall collect an additional
surcharge not to exceed $15 for each of the following fees:
(1) first registration permit; and
(2) renewal of a registration permit.
(b) The board shall deposit each surcharge collected under
this section to the credit of the Texas physician health program
account. The Texas physician health program account is a special
account in the general revenue fund. Money in the special account
shall be appropriated only to the board to pay for administration of
the Texas Physician Health Program under Chapter 167, including
paying for an initial evaluation by the program's medical director
or the director's designee. Money in the special account may not be
used to pay for program participant costs incurred for monitoring
or for a program participant's own medical costs, including any
further required evaluations, primary treatment, or continuing
care.
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 153, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 153.055 to read as follows:
Sec. 153.055. SURCHARGE FOR CERTAIN SEARCHES RELATED TO
LICENSE STATUS. (a) The board shall set and collect an additional
surcharge to cover the cost of administering a continuous query on
the National Practitioner Data Bank as required by Section
154.006(m). The surcharge shall be collected from each license
holder for:
(1) issuance of a first registration permit; and
(2) renewal of a registration permit.
(b) The board shall deposit each surcharge collected under
this section to the credit of the public assurance account
described by Section 153.0535(b).
SECTION 4. Section 154.006, Occupations Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (m) and (n) to read as follows:
(m) The board shall run a continuous query on the National
Practitioner Data Bank and, not later than the 10th working day
after the date any new information is found, update a physician's
profile to:
(1) include any new report or correction to a report of
disciplinary action against the physician; and
(2) remove any report of disciplinary action against
the physician that has been dismissed or otherwise voided.
(n) Information included in a physician's profile under
Subsection (m) may not include any patient identifying information
or information that may reasonably be used to identify any person or
entity other than the physician.
SECTION 5. Section 154.056(e), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(e) The board by rule shall provide for an expert physician
panel appointed by the board to assist with complaints and
investigations relating to medical competency by acting as expert
physician reviewers. Each member of the expert physician panel must
be licensed to practice medicine in a member [this] state, as
defined by Section 171.002. The rules adopted under this subsection
must include provisions governing the composition of the panel,
qualifications for membership on the panel, length of time a member
may serve on the panel, grounds for removal from the panel, the
avoidance of conflicts of interest, including situations in which
the affected physician and the panel member live or work in the same
geographical area or are competitors, and the duties to be
performed by the panel. The board's rules governing grounds for
removal from the panel must include providing for the removal of a
panel member who is repeatedly delinquent in reviewing complaints
and in submitting reports to the board. The board's rules governing
appointment of expert physician panel members to act as expert
physician reviewers must include a requirement that the board
randomly select, to the extent permitted by Section 154.058(b) and
the conflict of interest provisions adopted under this subsection,
panel members to review a complaint who are:
(1) licensed to practice medicine in this state; or
(2) licensed to practice medicine in a member state,
as defined by Section 171.002, if there are no panel members
licensed to practice medicine in this state available to review the
complaint in a timely manner.
SECTION 6. Section 155.003(e), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(e) An applicant is not eligible for a license if:
(1) the applicant holds a medical license that is
currently restricted for cause, canceled for cause, or suspended
for cause[, or revoked] by a state, a province of Canada, or a
uniformed service of the United States;
(2) an investigation or a proceeding is instituted
against the applicant for the restriction, cancellation,
suspension, or revocation in a state, a province of Canada, or a
uniformed service of the United States; [or]
(3) a prosecution is pending against the applicant in
any state, federal, or Canadian court for any offense that under the
laws of this state is a felony or a misdemeanor that involves moral
turpitude; or
(4) the applicant held a license to practice medicine
that has been revoked by the licensing authority in another state or
a province of Canada for a reason that would be grounds for the
board to revoke a license to practice medicine in this state.
SECTION 7. Section 155.008(a), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The board shall [may] submit to the Department of Public
Safety a complete set of fingerprints of each license applicant,
and the department shall classify and check the fingerprints
against those in the department's fingerprint records. The
department shall certify to the board its findings regarding the
criminal record of the applicant or the applicant's lack of a
criminal record.
SECTION 8. Subchapter A, Chapter 156, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 156.0015 to read as follows:
Sec. 156.0015. CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK. (a) In addition to
the information required by Section 156.001, a license holder
shall submit to the board with the registration permit renewal
application a complete set of fingerprints. The board shall submit
to the Department of Public Safety each set of fingerprints
received under this section for the purpose of completing the
criminal record check described by Section 155.008.
(b) The board may suspend or refuse to renew the
registration of a license holder who fails to submit a complete set
of fingerprints under this section.
(c) This section does not apply to a license holder who
previously submitted a complete set of fingerprints:
(1) as part of an application for a license; or
(2) as part of a previous application to renew a
registration permit under this section.
SECTION 9. Section 160.002(a), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A medical peer review committee or health care entity
shall report in writing to the board the results and circumstances
of a medical peer review that:
(1) adversely affects the clinical privileges of a
physician for a period longer than 14 [30] days;
(2) accepts a physician's surrender of clinical
privileges either:
(A) while the physician is under an investigation
by the medical peer review committee relating to possible
incompetence or improper professional conduct; or
(B) in return for not conducting an investigation
or proceeding relating to possible incompetence or improper
professional conduct; or
(3) adversely affects the membership of a physician in
a professional society or association, if the medical peer review
is conducted by that society or association.
SECTION 10. Section 164.051, Occupations Code, is amended
by amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection (e) to
read as follows:
(a) The board may refuse to admit a person to its
examination or refuse to issue a license to practice medicine and
may take disciplinary action against a person if the person:
(1) commits an act prohibited under Section 164.052;
(2) is convicted of, or is placed on deferred
adjudication community supervision or deferred disposition for:
(A) a felony; or
(B) a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude;
(3) commits or attempts to commit a direct or indirect
violation of a rule adopted under this subtitle, either as a
principal, accessory, or accomplice;
(4) is unable to practice medicine with reasonable
skill and safety to patients because of:
(A) illness;
(B) drunkenness;
(C) excessive use of drugs, narcotics,
chemicals, or another substance; or
(D) a mental or physical condition;
(5) is found by a court judgment to be of unsound mind;
(6) fails to practice medicine in an acceptable
professional manner consistent with public health and welfare;
(7) is removed, suspended, or is subject to
disciplinary action taken by the person's peers in a local,
regional, state, or national professional medical association or
society, or is disciplined by a licensed hospital or medical staff
of a hospital, including removal, suspension, limitation of
hospital privileges, or other disciplinary action, if the board
finds that the action:
(A) was based on unprofessional conduct or
professional incompetence that was likely to harm the public; and
(B) was appropriate and reasonably supported by
evidence submitted to the board;
(8) is subject to repeated or recurring meritorious
health care liability claims that in the board's opinion evidence
professional incompetence likely to injure the public; or
(9) except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (d)
and (e), holds a license to practice medicine subject to
disciplinary action by another state, or subject to disciplinary
action by the uniformed services of the United States, based on acts
by the person that are prohibited under Section 164.052 or are
similar to acts described by this subsection.
(d) The board shall refuse to issue a license under this
subtitle if the applicant held a license to practice medicine in
another state that has been revoked by the licensing authority in
that state for a reason that would be grounds for the board to
revoke a license to practice medicine in this state.
(e) The board shall revoke a license issued under this
subtitle if the license holder, while holding the license under
this subtitle, held a license to practice medicine in another state
that has been revoked by the licensing authority in that state for a
reason that would be grounds for the board to revoke a license to
practice medicine in this state.
SECTION 11. Section 164.0595(a), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A disciplinary panel appointed under Section 164.059
may suspend or restrict the license of a person arrested for an
offense under:
(1) Chapter 19 [Section 22.011(a)(2)], Penal Code
(criminal homicide) [(sexual assault of a child)];
(2) Chapter 20A [Section 22.021(a)(1)(B)], Penal Code
(trafficking of persons) [(aggravated sexual assault of a child)];
or
(3) Chapter 21 or 22 [Section 21.02], Penal Code
(sexual or assaultive offenses), if the offense is:
(A) sexual, lewd, or indecent in nature;
(B) not a misdemeanor punishable by fine only;
and
(C) committed against:
(i) a patient of the license holder;
(ii) a child;
(iii) an elderly individual [(continuous
sexual abuse of young child or disabled individual)]; or
(iv) an individual with a disability [(4)
Section 21.11, Penal Code (indecency with a child)].
SECTION 12. Section 165.154, Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 165.154. FALSE STATEMENT [TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL
RECORD]; OFFENSE [PERJURY OFFENSES]. (a) A person commits an
offense if the person knowingly makes a false statement:
(1) in the person's application for a license; or
(2) under oath to obtain a license or to secure the
registration of a license to practice medicine.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor
unless the actor's intent is to defraud or harm another, in which
event the offense is a state jail felony [:
[(1) constitutes tampering with a governmental record
or perjury as provided by the Penal Code; and
[(2) shall be punished on conviction as provided by
that code].
SECTION 13. Section 167.011, Occupations Code, is repealed.
SECTION 14. Section 153.051, Occupations Code, as amended
by this Act, and Section 153.053, Occupations Code, as added by this
Act, apply to the initial issuance of a license or the renewal of a
registration permit under Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code, on
or after September 1, 2023. A license initially issued or
registration permit renewed before September 1, 2023, is governed
by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this
Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 15. Section 156.0015, Occupations Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to an application to renew a registration
submitted on or after the effective date of this Act. An
application submitted before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the application was
submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 16. Section 165.154, Occupations Code, as amended
by this Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the
effective date of this Act. An offense committed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense
was committed before the effective date of this Act if any element
of the offense occurred before that date.
SECTION 17. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1998 was passed by the House on May
12, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 124, Nays 13, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1998 on May 26, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 120, Nays 16,
1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1998 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 24, 2023, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays
1.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor