By: Hall S.B. No. 2207
(In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2025; March 25, 2025, read
first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human Services;
April 14, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 9,
Nays 0; April 14, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to prohibiting the Texas Medical Board from regulating
certain physician advertising.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 153.002, Occupations Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read as follows:
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the board may not adopt
rules that regulate the advertising of physicians as "board
certified" if the physician:
(1) was initially certified by:
(A) a medical specialty member board of the
American Board of Medical Specialties;
(B) a medical specialty member board of the
American Osteopathic Association Bureau of Osteopathic
Specialists;
(C) the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial
Surgery; or
(D) any other certifying organization if the
organization submits to the board documentation that the certifying
organization:
(i) has certification requirements that are
substantially equivalent to the requirements of the medical
specialty member boards under Paragraph (A) or (B);
(ii) requires members to complete an
examination that has been psychometrically evaluated for
validation and administered by a testing organization that tests
knowledge and skills in the applicable specialty or subspecialty;
(iii) requires members to have successfully
completed postgraduate training accredited by the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical Education or the American Osteopathic
Association in the applicable specialty or subspecialty;
(iv) uses appropriate peer-review
processes;
(v) has a total membership of at least 100
licensed members, fellows, diplomates, or certificate holders from
at least one-third of the states in the United States;
(vi) is exempt from the payment of federal
income taxes under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
by being listed as an exempt entity under Section 501(c) of that
code; and
(vii) has a permanent headquarters and
staff; and
(2) in the advertising identifies the certifying
organization by which the physician is certified.
(d) The board may not charge a fee or require submission of
an application by a certifying organization described by Subsection
(c)(1)(D).
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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