Please call and e-mail the undecided members of the Texas House Calendars Committee and their Chiefs of Staff to ask them to support CSHB 1013 and vote it out of the Calendars Committee, so that the full House may pass it.
The undecided Texas House Calendars Committee Members with their email addresses and the email addresses of each one’s Chief of Staff:
Rep. Vicki Truitt, 512.463.0690,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Dennis Bonnen, 512.463.0564,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Dan Branch, 512.463.0367,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Byron Cook, 512.463.0730,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Charlie Geren, 512.463.0610,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Jim Keffer, 512.463.0656,
[email protected]
Rep. Tracy O. King, 512.463.0194,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Eddie Lucio III, 512.463.0606,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Allan Ritter, 512.463.0706,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, 512.463.0674,
[email protected], [email protected]
Rep. Burt R. Solomons, 512.463.0478,
[email protected], [email protected]
A majority of the Texas House members, 81 of 150, have signed on as sponsors of the Texas Medical Board (TMB) reform bill, CSHB 1013. This bill eliminates most confidential/anonymous complaints against physicians and establishes legal due process protections for physicians subject to complaints before the TMB.
CSHB 1013 passed the House Public Health Committee 7-2 and is now in the Calendars Committee, which should set it for a vote by the entire House. PLEASE ASK THE ABOVE MEMBERS OF THE CALENDARS COMMITTEE TO ALLOW A VOTE BY THE FULL HOUSE ON CSHB 1013.
CSHB 1013 would require transparency of the TMB’s actions, which are currently cloaked in secrecy. The secrecy that conceals the complaint process has led to systemic abuse. Shining sunlight on the process by ending most confidential/anonymous complaints is long overdue.
Incredibly, despite the fact that there is widespread support by physicians and patients for change at the TMB, the Texas Medical Association (TMA) opposes reform and has worked to undermine and defeat this bill.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) strongly supports these reforms and has begun notifying physicians across Texas of the TMA’s opposition to CSHB 1013 and to reforming the TMB.
Rep. Vicki Truitt supported our bill during the 2009 Legislative Session. Rep. Truitt needs to be asked to support this bill again.
Please call and e-mail the undecided members of the committee and ask them to support CSHB 1013 and vote it out of Calendars Committee.
Please forward this correspondence to your distribution lists.Thank you!
Revisions of Texas Medical Practice Act Included in CSHB 1013
- Elimination of confidential and/or anonymous complaints; the accused physician shall receive a copy of the complaint; exempted are patients and their family members.
- No more anonymous and/or confidential complaints from pharmaceutical, insurance companies, competitors, disgruntled employees or angry spouses.
- Prohibition of conflict of interests by Texas Medical Board (TMB) members.
- The TMB can use as experts only actively practicing physicians, who review the record with the name of the accused physician withheld.
- If requested by the physician and at his expense, the TMB shall record the Informal Settlement Conference (ISC) and maintain the recording as part of the record but may not release it to any third parties. The physician may retain a copy of the audio recording.
- The assignment of ISC panel members shall be done randomly unless there is a board member in the same or similar practice who is available to participate.
- A reasonable 30 day period for physicians to respond to complaints.
- A statute of limitations of 7 years with respect to filing complaints.
- Like attorneys, physicians shall be entitled to a right to a jury trial if their license is revoked.
- The board shall dispose of a contested case by issuing a final order based on an administrative judge's findings of fact and conclusions of law.
Click here to view the bill: http://www.txppr.org/downloads/110404_CSHB_1013.pdf
