Bill Text: TX HB2475 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to medical education coursework in cultural competence and implicit bias.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-05 - Filed [HB2475 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HB2475-Introduced.html
| 89R9350 DNC-D | ||
| By: Simmons | H.B. No. 2475 | |
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| relating to medical education coursework in cultural competence and | ||
| implicit bias. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 51, Education Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 51.310 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 51.310. CULTURAL COMPETENCE AND IMPLICIT BIAS MEDICAL | ||
| EDUCATION COURSEWORK. (a) In this section: | ||
| (1) "Coordinating board" means the Texas Higher | ||
| Education Coordinating Board. | ||
| (2) "Cultural competence" and "implicit bias" have the | ||
| meanings assigned by Section 153.017, Occupations Code. | ||
| (3) "Medical school" has the meaning assigned by | ||
| Section 61.501. | ||
| (b) The coordinating board by rule shall require a medical | ||
| school to offer coursework in cultural competence and implicit bias | ||
| approved by the Texas Medical Board under Section 153.017(b), | ||
| Occupations Code. | ||
| (c) A medical school may not award a student a doctor of | ||
| medicine (M.D.) or doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) degree | ||
| unless the student has successfully completed the number of hours | ||
| of coursework in cultural competence and implicit bias required by | ||
| coordinating board rule. | ||
| SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 153, Occupations Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 153.017 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 153.017. COURSEWORK IN CULTURAL COMPETENCE AND | ||
| IMPLICIT BIAS. (a) In this section: | ||
| (1) "Cultural competence" means, with respect to | ||
| health care, the ability to effectively address the health issues | ||
| of individuals from diverse backgrounds by applying knowledge, | ||
| empathy, and insight into the views on health that those | ||
| backgrounds present. | ||
| (2) "Implicit bias" means: | ||
| (A) bias in judgment or behavior that results | ||
| from subtle cognitive processes, including implicit attitudes and | ||
| stereotypes, that often operate at a level below conscious | ||
| awareness and without intentional control; or | ||
| (B) implicit attitudes and stereotypes that | ||
| result in beliefs or simple associations that a person makes | ||
| between an object and its evaluation that are automatically | ||
| activated by the mere presence, actual or symbolic, of the attitude | ||
| object. | ||
| (b) The board by rule shall approve coursework in cultural | ||
| competence and implicit bias for purposes of Section 51.310, | ||
| Education Code. | ||
| (c) Coursework approved under Subsection (b) must be: | ||
| (1) designed to address medical decisions and | ||
| treatment relating to a person's race, ethnicity, nationality, | ||
| language, sex, gender, physical and mental ability, and | ||
| socioeconomic status; and | ||
| (2) developed in consultation with: | ||
| (A) the Texas Higher Education Coordinating | ||
| Board; and | ||
| (B) the Association of American Medical Colleges | ||
| or another nationally recognized organization that reviews medical | ||
| school curricula. | ||
| SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2025, the Texas Higher | ||
| Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Medical Board shall | ||
| adopt the rules necessary to implement this Act. | ||
| SECTION 4. Section 51.310(c), Education Code, as added by | ||
| this Act, applies only to a student who enrolls in a doctor of | ||
| medicine (M.D.) or doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) degree | ||
| program on or after January 1, 2026. | ||
| SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. | ||
