Bill Text: TX HB2976 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to authority of the Travis County Healthcare District to appoint, contract for, or employ physicians.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-24 - Laid on the table subject to call [HB2976 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB2976-Comm_Sub.html
| 86R4478 SRA-F | ||
| By: Howard, Israel, Rodriguez, Hinojosa | H.B. No. 2976 | |
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| relating to authority of the Travis County Healthcare District to | ||
| appoint, contract for, or employ physicians. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 281, Health and Safety | ||
| Code, is amended by adding Section 281.02815 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 281.02815. EMPLOYMENT OF PHYSICIANS BY CERTAIN | ||
| HOSPITAL DISTRICTS. (a) This section applies only to a district | ||
| created in a county with a population of more than 800,000 that was | ||
| not included in the boundaries of a hospital district before | ||
| September 1, 2003. | ||
| (b) In addition to the authority to employ physicians under | ||
| Section 281.0281 in the manner and for the purposes provided by that | ||
| section, the board of the district may appoint, contract for, or | ||
| employ physicians as the board considers necessary for the | ||
| efficient operation of the district. | ||
| (c) The term of an employment contract entered into under | ||
| this section may not exceed four years. | ||
| (d) This section may not be construed as authorizing the | ||
| board to supervise or control the practice of medicine, as | ||
| prohibited by Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations Code. | ||
| (e) The authority granted to the board under Subsection (b) | ||
| to employ physicians shall apply as necessary for the district to | ||
| fulfill the district's statutory mandate to provide medical care | ||
| for the indigent and needy residents of the district as provided by | ||
| Section 281.046. | ||
| (f) The medical executive board of the district shall adopt, | ||
| maintain, and enforce policies to ensure that a physician employed | ||
| by the district under this section exercises the physician's | ||
| independent medical judgment in providing care to patients. | ||
| (g) The policies adopted by the medical executive board | ||
| under this section must include: | ||
| (1) policies relating to: | ||
| (A) governance of the medical executive board; | ||
| (B) credentialing; | ||
| (C) quality assurance; | ||
| (D) utilization review; | ||
| (E) peer review; | ||
| (F) medical decision-making; and | ||
| (G) due process; and | ||
| (2) rules requiring the disclosure of financial | ||
| conflicts of interest by a member of the medical executive board. | ||
| (h) The medical executive board and the board of the | ||
| district shall jointly develop and implement a conflict management | ||
| process to resolve any conflict between a policy adopted by the | ||
| medical executive board under this section and a policy of the | ||
| district. | ||
| (i) A member of the medical executive board who is a | ||
| physician shall provide biennially to the chair of the medical | ||
| executive board a signed, verified statement indicating that the | ||
| board member: | ||
| (1) is licensed by the Texas Medical Board; | ||
| (2) will exercise independent medical judgment in all | ||
| medical executive board matters, including matters relating to: | ||
| (A) credentialing; | ||
| (B) quality assurance; | ||
| (C) utilization review; | ||
| (D) peer review; | ||
| (E) medical decision-making; and | ||
| (F) due process; | ||
| (3) will exercise the board member's best efforts to | ||
| ensure compliance with the policies that are adopted or established | ||
| by the medical executive board; and | ||
| (4) will report immediately to the Texas Medical Board | ||
| any action or event that the board member reasonably and in good | ||
| faith believes constitutes a compromise of the independent medical | ||
| judgment of a physician in caring for a patient. | ||
| (j) For all matters relating to the practice of medicine, | ||
| each physician employed by the district under this section shall | ||
| ultimately report to the chair of the medical executive board for | ||
| the district. | ||
| SECTION 2. 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 September 1, 2019. | ||
