Dear TxAAPS Members and Friends:
Some hospitals are improperly circumventing the good bill enacted by the Texas Legislature in 2017 (SB 1148) intended to restrict hospitals and insurers from imposing counterproductive MOC requirements on physicians.
This session Sen. Dawn Buckingham has introduced SB 1882 to help ensure hospitals follow the law. The bill was just added to the agenda of a hearing to be held tomorrow (4/23) of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee.
The text of the bill can be read here:
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/html/SB01882I.htm
The short bill contains a few key improvements to move further in the right direction:
1) Adds a provision to the hospital licensure statute stating that hospitals are in violation of the statute if they don’t follow the rules adopted by SB 1148 and the new bill.
2) Requires that the hospital hold a medical staff vote on MOC requirements at the request of a member of the medical staff, not later than the 60th day after the date of the request.
3) Reiterates that only medical staff votes at individual hospitals can authorize an MOC requirement and that the Medical Executive Committee cannot unilaterally institute such a requirement.
4) Requires that the hospital provide written notice to the voting physician members of the hospital’s organized medical staff of the process by which the members may request a vote to impose or remove an MOC requirement.
It would be helpful for doctors and patients to come to the Capitol to give short 3 minute statements in support of this bill or to sign-in in support of the bill at a Capitol kiosk. We understand it will not be possible for most of you to reschedule patient care with such little notice. But if you are able to be there please reply to this email to let us know ASAP.
If you are not able to be there in person, you can still help:
1) Please send the Committee members an email message asking them to support SB 1882 (even though the hearing has already occurred, emails to the committee members are still very helpful).
For many email apps, clicking here will open a new email with a template message, and the committee members’ email addresses, filled in for you. Simply add your name and city at the bottom of the note, modify the message to your liking, and send.
If the link doesn’t work for you, here is a template message you can copy and paste (be sure to add your name and city at the bottom):
Dear Chair Hancock and Members of the Senate Committee on Business & Commerce:
I ask you to support SB 1882, a bill intended to ensure hospitals comply with legislation passed last session that protects patient access to care from physicians of their choice. Certain Texas hospitals continue to impose requirements on physicians that add cost and detract from patient care. The legislature helped address this issue in 2017 by enacting SB 1148, but some hospitals are choosing to ignore the law. SB 1882 takes a few simple steps to correct the problem and help patients keep their doctors.
Sincerely,
Email addresses you can copy and paste into the TO line of your message:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
2) CALLING the committee members is also very helpful. We have a list of the phone numbers here.
Thank you for speaking out. Your voice makes a difference!
