By: Sparks S.B. No. 397
(In the Senate - Filed November 20, 2024; February 3, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human
Services; March 31, 2025, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; March 31, 2025, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to rules regarding the provision by a health professional
of a telemedicine medical service, teledentistry dental service, or
telehealth service.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 111.004, Occupations Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c), (d), and (e) to read as follows:
(c) Each agency with regulatory authority over a health
professional providing a telemedicine medical service,
teledentistry dental service, or telehealth service shall adopt
rules necessary to standardize formats for and retention of records
related to a patient's consent to:
(1) treatment;
(2) data collection; and
(3) data sharing.
(d) Rules adopted under Subsection (c) must:
(1) as applicable, address the specific consent
documentation required for:
(A) telemedicine medical services;
(B) teledentistry dental services; or
(C) telehealth services; and
(2) include provisions, based on the appropriate
standard of care, for consent documentation in an audio-only
format.
(e) Rules adopted under this section must require that a
health professional conduct an in-person examination of a patient
before an irreversible medical procedure is initiated.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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