Texas Occupations Code - Section 102.007. Applicability
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Texas Lawyer > Occupations Code > Texas Occupations Code - Section 102.007. Applicability
§ 102.007. APPLICABILITY. (a) This subchapter does not
apply to a health care information service that:
(1) provides its services to a consumer only by
telephone communication on request initiated by the consumer and
without charge to the consumer;
(2) provides information about health care providers
to enable consumer selection of health care provider services
without any direct influence by a health care provider on actual
consumer selection of those services;
(3) in response to each consumer inquiry, on a
nondiscriminatory basis, provides information identifying health
care providers who substantially meet the consumer's detailed
criteria based on consumer responses to standard questions designed
to elicit a consumer's criteria for a health care provider,
including criteria concerning location of the practice, practice
specialties, costs and payment policies, acceptance of insurance
coverage, general background and practice experience, and various
personal characteristics;
(4) does not attempt through its standard questions
for solicitation of consumer criteria or through any other means to
lead a consumer to select or consider selection of a particular
health care provider for health care provider services;
(5) identifies to a consumer:
(A) all health care providers substantially
meeting the consumer's stated criteria who are located within the
zip code area in which the consumer elects to obtain services from a
health care provider; or
(B) all health care providers substantially
meeting the consumer's stated criteria who are located in zip code
areas in the closest proximity to the elected zip code area if no
health care provider substantially meeting the consumer's criteria
is located within that zip code area;
(6) discloses to each consumer the relationship
between the health care information service and health care
providers participating in its services;
(7) does not provide or represent itself as providing
diagnostic or counseling services or assessment of illness or
injury and does not make any promise of cure or guarantee of
treatment;
(8) does not provide or arrange for transportation of
a consumer to or from the location of a health care provider;
(9) does not limit the scope of or direct its
advertising or other marketing of its services to a particular
health care provider specialty, to a particular segment of the
population, or to persons suffering from a particular illness,
condition, or infirmity;
(10) charges to and collects a fee from a health care
provider participating in its services that is set in advance, is
consistent with the fair market value for those information
services, and is not based on the potential value of a patient to a
health care provider or on the value of or a percentage of the value
of a professional service provided by the health care provider;
(11) does not limit participation by a health care
provider in its services to a particular health care specialty or to
a particular service provided by a health care provider;
(12) does not limit participation by a health care
provider in its services for a reason other than:
(A) failure to have a current license without
limitation to practice in this state;
(B) failure to maintain professional liability
insurance while participating in the service;
(C) significant dissatisfaction of consumers of
the health care information service that is documented and can be
proved;
(D) a decision by a peer review committee that
the health care provider has failed to meet prescribed standards or
has not acted in a professional or ethical manner; or
(E) termination of the contract between the
health care provider and the health care information service by
either party under the terms of the contract;
(13) maintains a customer service department to handle
complaints and answer questions for consumers;
(14) maintains a customer follow-up system to monitor
consumer satisfaction; and
(15) does not use, maintain, distribute, or provide
for any purpose any information that will identify a particular
consumer, such as a name, address, or telephone number, obtained
from a consumer seeking its services other than for the purposes of:
(A) providing the information to the health care
provider with whom an appointment is made;
(B) performing administrative functions
necessary to operate the health care information service;
(C) providing directly to a consumer, at the
request of that consumer on that consumer's initial contact with
the health care information service, information relating to
health-related support groups or providers of health-care-related
services or equipment within the area of interest requested by the
consumer; or
(D) conducting analytical research on data
obtained through provision of services and preparing statistical
reports that generally analyze that data but do not in any manner
identify one or more specific consumers.
(b) In this section:
(1) "Health care information service" means a person
who provides information to a consumer regarding health care
providers that can enable the consumer to select one or more health
care providers to furnish health care services.
(2) "Health care provider" means a person licensed,
certified, or registered by a state health care regulatory agency
other than:
(A) a mental health facility as defined by
Section 571.003, Health and Safety Code; or
(B) a treatment facility as defined by Section
464.001, Health and Safety Code.
Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
Section: 101.307 102.001 102.002 102.003 102.004 102.005 102.006 102.007 102.008 102.009 102.010 102.011 102.051 102.052 102.053
Last modified: August 10, 2007
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