Texas Occupations Code - Section 151.002. Definitions
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§ 151.002. DEFINITIONS. (a) In this subtitle:
(1) "Board" means the Texas Medical Board.
(2) "Continuing threat to the public welfare" means a
real danger to the health of a physician's patients or to the public
from the acts or omissions of the physician caused through the
physician's lack of competence, impaired status, or failure to care
adequately for the physician's patients, as determined by:
(A) the board;
(B) a medical peer review committee in this
state;
(C) a physician licensed to practice medicine in
this state or otherwise lawfully practicing medicine in this state;
(D) a physician engaged in graduate medical
education or training; or
(E) a medical student.
(3) "Disciplinary order" means an action taken under
Section 164.001, 164.053, 164.058, or 164.101.
(4) "Doctor of osteopathic medicine" includes a doctor
of osteopathy, an osteopath, an osteopathic physician, and an
osteopathic surgeon.
(5) "Health care entity" means:
(A) a hospital licensed under Chapter 241 or 577,
Health and Safety Code;
(B) an entity, including a health maintenance
organization, group medical practice, nursing home, health science
center, university medical school, hospital district, hospital
authority, or other health care facility, that:
(i) provides or pays for medical care or
health care services; and
(ii) follows a formal peer review process
to further quality medical care or health care;
(C) a professional society or association of
physicians, or a committee of such a society or association, that
follows a formal peer review process to further quality medical
care or health care; or
(D) an organization established by a
professional society or association of physicians, hospitals, or
both, that:
(i) collects and verifies the authenticity
of documents and other information concerning the qualifications,
competence, or performance of licensed health care professionals;
and
(ii) acts as a health care facility's agent
under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (42 U.S.C.
Section 11101 et seq.).
(6) "Legally authorized representative" of a patient
means:
(A) a parent or legal guardian if the patient is a
minor;
(B) a legal guardian if the patient has been
adjudicated incompetent to manage the patient's personal affairs;
(C) an agent of the patient authorized under a
durable power of attorney for health care;
(D) an attorney ad litem appointed for the
patient;
(E) a guardian ad litem appointed for the
patient;
(F) a personal representative or statutory
beneficiary if the patient is deceased; or
(G) an attorney retained by the patient or by
another person listed by this subdivision.
(7) "Medical peer review" or "professional review
action" means the evaluation of medical and health care services,
including evaluation of the qualifications and professional
conduct of professional health care practitioners and of patient
care provided by those practitioners. The term includes evaluation
of the:
(A) merits of a complaint relating to a health
care practitioner and a determination or recommendation regarding
the complaint;
(B) accuracy of a diagnosis;
(C) quality of the care provided by a health care
practitioner;
(D) report made to a medical peer review
committee concerning activities under the committee's review
authority;
(E) report made by a medical peer review
committee to another committee or to the board as permitted or
required by law; and
(F) implementation of the duties of a medical
peer review committee by a member, agent, or employee of the
committee.
(8) "Medical peer review committee" or "professional
review body" means a committee of a health care entity, the
governing board of a health care entity, or the medical staff of a
health care entity, that operates under written bylaws approved by
the policy-making body or the governing board of the health care
entity and is authorized to evaluate the quality of medical and
health care services or the competence of physicians, including
evaluation of the performance of those functions specified by
Section 85.204, Health and Safety Code. The term includes:
(A) an employee or agent of the committee,
including an assistant, investigator, intervenor, attorney, and
any other person or organization that serves the committee; and
(B) the governing body of a public hospital owned
or operated by a governmental entity, the governing body of a
hospital authority created under Chapter 262 or 264, Health and
Safety Code, and the governing body of a hospital district created
under Article IX, Texas Constitution, but only:
(i) in relation to the governing body's
evaluation of the competence of a physician or the quality of
medical and health care services provided by the public hospital,
hospital authority, or hospital district; and
(ii) to the extent that the evaluation
under Subparagraph (i) involves discussions or records that
specifically or necessarily identify an individual patient or
physician.
(9) "Medical records" means all records relating to
the history, diagnosis, treatment, or prognosis of a patient.
(10) "Operation" means the application of surgery or
the performance of surgical services.
(11) "Person" means an individual, unless the term is
expressly made applicable to a partnership, association, or
corporation.
(12) "Physician" means a person licensed to practice
medicine in this state.
(13) "Practicing medicine" means the diagnosis,
treatment, or offer to treat a mental or physical disease or
disorder or a physical deformity or injury by any system or method,
or the attempt to effect cures of those conditions, by a person who:
(A) publicly professes to be a physician or
surgeon; or
(B) directly or indirectly charges money or other
compensation for those services.
(14) "Surgery" includes:
(A) surgical services, procedures, and
operations; and
(B) the procedures described in the surgery
section of the common procedure coding system as adopted by the
Health Care Financing Administration of the United States
Department of Health and Human Services.
(b) The terms "physician" and "surgeon" are synonyms. As
used in this subtitle, the terms "practitioner" and "practitioner
of medicine" include physicians and surgeons.
Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999. Amended
by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, § 14.021(a), eff. Sept. 1,
2001; Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 202, § 1, eff. June 10, 2003;
Acts 2005, 79th Leg., ch. 269, § 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.
Section: 111.002 111.003 111.004 112.001 112.002 112.051 151.001 151.002 151.003 151.004 151.005 151.051 151.052 151.053 151.054
Last modified: August 10, 2007
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