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Texas Occupations Code - Section 154.056. General Rules Regarding Complaint Investigation; Disposition

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Occupations Code > Texas Occupations Code - Section 154.056. General Rules Regarding Complaint Investigation; Disposition

§ 154.056. GENERAL RULES REGARDING COMPLAINT 
INVESTIGATION;  DISPOSITION.  (a) The board shall adopt rules 
concerning the investigation and review of a complaint filed with 
the board.  The rules adopted under this section must:
		(1)  distinguish among categories of complaints and 
give priority to complaints that involve sexual misconduct, quality 
of care, and impaired physician issues;
		(2)  ensure that a complaint is not dismissed without 
appropriate consideration;
		(3)  require that the board be advised of the dismissal 
of a complaint and that a letter be sent to the person who filed the 
complaint and to the physician who was the subject of the complaint 
explaining the action taken on the complaint;
		(4)  ensure that a person who files a complaint has an 
opportunity to explain the allegations made in the complaint;
		(5)  prescribe guidelines concerning the categories of 
complaints that require the use of a private investigator and the 
procedures for the board to obtain the services of a private 
investigator;
		(6)  provide for an expert physician panel authorized 
under Subsection (e) to assist with complaints and investigations 
relating to medical competency;  and
		(7)  require the review of reports filed with the 
National Practitioner Data Bank for any report of the termination, 
limitation, suspension, limitation in scope of practice, or 
probation of clinical or hospital staff privileges of a physician 
by:
			(A)  a hospital;                                                             
			(B)  a health maintenance organization;                                      
			(C)  an independent practice association;                                    
			(D)  an approved nonprofit health corporation 
certified under Section 162.001;  or
			(E)  a physician network.                                                    
	(b)  The board shall:                                                          
		(1)  dispose of each complaint in a timely manner;  and                       
		(2)  establish a schedule for conducting each phase of 
a complaint that is under the control of the board not later than 
the 30th day after the date the board receives the complaint.
	(c)  The executive director shall notify the board of a 
complaint that is unresolved after the time prescribed by the board 
for resolving the complaint so that the board may take necessary 
action on the complaint.
	(d)  The board shall adopt other rules as appropriate to 
administer this subchapter.
	(e)  The board by rule shall provide for an expert physician 
panel appointed by the board to assist with complaints and 
investigations relating to medical competency by acting as expert 
physician reviewers.  Each member of the expert physician panel 
must be licensed to practice medicine in this state.  The rules 
adopted under this subsection must include provisions governing the 
composition of the panel, qualifications for membership on the 
panel, length of time a member may serve on the panel, grounds for 
removal from the panel, the avoidance of conflicts of interest, 
including situations in which the affected physician and the panel 
member live or work in the same geographical area or are 
competitors, and the duties to be performed by the panel.  The 
board's rules governing grounds for removal from the panel must 
include providing for the removal of a panel member who is 
repeatedly delinquent in reviewing complaints and in submitting 
reports to the board.  The board's rules governing appointment of 
expert physician panel members to act as expert physician reviewers 
must include a requirement that the board randomly select, to the 
extent permitted by Section 154.058(b) and the conflict of interest 
provisions adopted under this subsection, panel members to review a 
complaint.
	(f)  In the board rules adopted under Subsection (a)(3), the 
board shall require that the letter informing the person who filed 
the complaint of the dismissal of the complaint include an 
explanation of the reason the complaint was dismissed.

Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.  Amended 
by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 202, § 9, eff. June 10, 2003;  Acts 
2005, 79th Leg., ch. 269, § 1.17, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.

Last modified: August 10, 2007