Bill Text: TX HB13 | 2017 | 85th Legislature 1st Special Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Relating to reporting requirements by certain physicians and health care facilities for abortion complications; authorizing a civil penalty.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 85-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-08-15 - Effective on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [HB13 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-HB13-Enrolled.html
| H.B. No. 13 | ||
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| relating to reporting requirements by certain physicians and health | ||
| care facilities for abortion complications; authorizing a civil | ||
| penalty. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 171, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, is amended by adding Section 171.006 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 171.006. ABORTION COMPLICATION REPORTING | ||
| REQUIREMENTS; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) In this section "abortion | ||
| complication" means any harmful event or adverse outcome with | ||
| respect to a patient related to an abortion that is performed on the | ||
| patient and that is diagnosed or treated by a health care | ||
| practitioner or at a health care facility and includes: | ||
| (1) shock; | ||
| (2) uterine perforation; | ||
| (3) cervical laceration; | ||
| (4) hemorrhage; | ||
| (5) aspiration or allergic response; | ||
| (6) infection; | ||
| (7) sepsis; | ||
| (8) death of the patient; | ||
| (9) incomplete abortion; | ||
| (10) damage to the uterus; or | ||
| (11) an infant born alive after the abortion. | ||
| (b) The reporting requirements of this section apply only | ||
| to: | ||
| (1) a physician who: | ||
| (A) performs at an abortion facility an abortion | ||
| that results in an abortion complication diagnosed or treated by | ||
| that physician; or | ||
| (B) diagnoses or treats at an abortion facility | ||
| an abortion complication that is the result of an abortion | ||
| performed by another physician at the facility; or | ||
| (2) a health care facility that is a hospital, | ||
| abortion facility, freestanding emergency medical care facility, | ||
| or health care facility that provides emergency medical care, as | ||
| defined by Section 773.003. | ||
| (c) A physician described by Subsection (b)(1) shall | ||
| electronically submit to the commission in the form and manner | ||
| prescribed by commission rule a report on each abortion | ||
| complication diagnosed or treated by that physician not later than | ||
| the end of the third business day after the date on which the | ||
| complication is diagnosed or treated. Each health care facility | ||
| described by Subsection (b)(2) shall electronically submit to the | ||
| commission in the form and manner prescribed by commission rule a | ||
| report on each abortion complication diagnosed or treated at the | ||
| facility not later than the 30th day after the date on which the | ||
| complication is diagnosed or treatment is provided for the | ||
| complication. | ||
| (d) The commission shall develop a form for reporting an | ||
| abortion complication under Subsection (c) and publish the form on | ||
| the commission's Internet website. The executive commissioner by | ||
| rule may adopt procedures to reduce duplication in reporting under | ||
| this section. | ||
| (e) A report under this section may not identify by any | ||
| means the physician performing an abortion, other than a physician | ||
| described by Subsection (b)(1), or the patient on whom the abortion | ||
| was performed. | ||
| (f) A report under this section must identify the name of | ||
| the physician submitting the report or the name and type of health | ||
| care facility submitting the report and must include, if known, for | ||
| each abortion complication: | ||
| (1) the date of the abortion that caused or may have | ||
| caused the complication; | ||
| (2) the type of abortion that caused or may have caused | ||
| the complication; | ||
| (3) the gestational age of the fetus at the time the | ||
| abortion was performed; | ||
| (4) the name and type of the facility in which the | ||
| abortion was performed; | ||
| (5) the date the complication was diagnosed or | ||
| treated; | ||
| (6) the name and type of any facility other than the | ||
| reporting facility in which the complication was diagnosed or | ||
| treated; | ||
| (7) a description of the complication; | ||
| (8) the patient's year of birth, race, marital status, | ||
| and state and county of residence; | ||
| (9) the date of the first day of the patient's last | ||
| menstrual period that occurred before the date of the abortion that | ||
| caused or may have caused the complication; | ||
| (10) the number of previous live births of the | ||
| patient; and | ||
| (11) the number of previous induced abortions of the | ||
| patient. | ||
| (g) Except as provided by Section 245.023, all information | ||
| and records held by the commission under this section are | ||
| confidential and are not open records for the purposes of Chapter | ||
| 552, Government Code. That information may not be released or made | ||
| public on subpoena or otherwise, except release may be made: | ||
| (1) for statistical purposes, but only if a person, | ||
| patient, or health care facility is not identified; | ||
| (2) with the consent of each person, patient, and | ||
| facility identified in the information released; | ||
| (3) to medical personnel, appropriate state agencies, | ||
| or county and district courts to enforce this chapter; or | ||
| (4) to appropriate state licensing boards to enforce | ||
| state licensing laws. | ||
| (h) A report submitted under this section must include the | ||
| most specific, accurate, and complete reporting for the highest | ||
| level of specificity. | ||
| (i) The commission shall develop and publish on the | ||
| commission's Internet website an annual report that aggregates on a | ||
| statewide basis each abortion complication required to be reported | ||
| under Subsection (f) for the previous calendar year. The annual | ||
| report may not include any duplicative data. | ||
| (j) A physician described by Subsection (b)(1) or health | ||
| care facility that violates this section is subject to a civil | ||
| penalty of $500 for each violation. The attorney general, at the | ||
| request of the commission or appropriate licensing agency, may file | ||
| an action to recover a civil penalty assessed under this subsection | ||
| and may recover attorney's fees and costs incurred in bringing the | ||
| action. Each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate | ||
| ground for recovery. | ||
| (k) The third separate violation of this section | ||
| constitutes cause for the revocation or suspension of a physician's | ||
| or health care facility's license, permit, registration, | ||
| certificate, or other authority or for other disciplinary action | ||
| against the physician or facility by the appropriate licensing | ||
| agency. | ||
| (l) The commission shall notify the Texas Medical Board of | ||
| any violations of this section by a physician. | ||
| SECTION 2. Not later than January 1, 2018: | ||
| (1) the Health and Human Services Commission shall | ||
| develop the forms required by Section 171.006, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, as added by this Act; and | ||
| (2) the executive commissioner of the Health and Human | ||
| Services Commission shall adopt the rules necessary to implement | ||
| Section 171.006, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act. | ||
| SECTION 3. The Health and Human Services Commission shall | ||
| establish an electronic reporting system for purposes of Section | ||
| 171.006, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, as soon as | ||
| practicable after the effective date of this Act. | ||
| SECTION 4. 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 on the 91st day after the last day of the | ||
| legislative session. | ||
| ______________________________ | ______________________________ | |
| President of the Senate | Speaker of the House | |
| I certify that H.B. No. 13 was passed by the House on July 28, | ||
| 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 94, Nays 45, 1 present, not | ||
| voting. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
| I certify that H.B. No. 13 was passed by the Senate on August | ||
| 11, 2017, by the following vote: Yeas 22, Nays 9. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Secretary of the Senate | ||
| APPROVED: _____________________ | ||
| Date | ||
| _____________________ | ||
| Governor | ||
