| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the regulation of the practice of nursing. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 301.261(e), Occupations Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(e) The board by rule shall permit a person whose license is |
|
|
on inactive status and who was in good standing with the board on |
|
|
the date the license became inactive [is 65 years or older] to use, |
|
|
as applicable, the title "Registered Nurse Retired," "R.N. |
|
|
Retired," "Licensed Vocational Nurse Retired," "Vocational Nurse |
|
|
Retired," "L.V.N. Retired," or "V.N. Retired" or another |
|
|
appropriate title approved by the board.["] |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 301.352(b), Occupations Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) An act by a person under Subsection (a) does not |
|
|
constitute a violation of this section if a nursing peer review |
|
|
committee under Chapter 303 determines: |
|
|
(1) that the act or omission the nurse refused to |
|
|
engage in was not: |
|
|
(A) [not] conduct reportable to the board under |
|
|
Section 301.403; |
|
|
(B) a minor incident; or |
|
|
(C) a violation of this chapter or a board rule; |
|
|
or |
|
|
(2) that: |
|
|
(A) the act or omission in which the nurse |
|
|
refused to engage was conduct reportable to the board, a minor |
|
|
incident, or a violation of this chapter or a board rule; and |
|
|
(B) the person: |
|
|
(i) rescinds any disciplinary or |
|
|
discriminatory action taken against the nurse; |
|
|
(ii) compensates the nurse for lost wages; |
|
|
and |
|
|
(iii) restores to the nurse any lost |
|
|
benefits. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 301.4521(j), Occupations Code, is |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(j) The results of an evaluation under this section are: |
|
|
(1) confidential and not subject to disclosure under |
|
|
Chapter 552, Government Code; and |
|
|
(2) not subject to disclosure by discovery, subpoena, |
|
|
or other means of legal compulsion for release to anyone, except |
|
|
that the results may be: |
|
|
(A) introduced as evidence in a proceeding before |
|
|
the board or a hearing conducted by the State Office of |
|
|
Administrative Hearings under this chapter; [or] |
|
|
(B) included in the findings of fact and |
|
|
conclusions of law in a final board order; and |
|
|
(C) disclosed to a peer assistance program |
|
|
approved by the board under Chapter 467, Health and Safety Code, and |
|
|
to which the board has referred the nurse. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 301.4551, Occupations Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 301.4551. TEMPORARY LICENSE SUSPENSION FOR DRUG OR |
|
|
ALCOHOL USE. (a) The board shall temporarily suspend the license |
|
|
of a nurse as provided by Section 301.455 if the nurse is under a |
|
|
board order prohibiting the use of alcohol or a drug or requiring |
|
|
the nurse to participate in a peer assistance program, and the |
|
|
nurse: |
|
|
(1) tests positive for alcohol or a prohibited drug; |
|
|
(2) refuses to comply with a board order to submit to a |
|
|
drug or alcohol test; or |
|
|
(3) fails to participate in the peer assistance |
|
|
program and the program issues a letter of dismissal and referral to |
|
|
the board for noncompliance. |
|
|
(b) For the purposes of Section 301.455(c), proof of the |
|
|
elements required for the board to suspend a license under this |
|
|
section is proof that probable cause of a continuing and imminent |
|
|
threat to the public welfare exists. |
|
|
SECTION 5. Chapter 303, Occupations Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Section 303.012 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 303.012. ERROR CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM. (a) The board |
|
|
may develop a standardized error classification system for use by a |
|
|
nursing peer review committee in evaluating the conduct of a nurse. |
|
|
The board shall make the system available to the committee at no |
|
|
cost. |
|
|
(b) Information collected as part of an error |
|
|
classification system is a record of the nursing peer review |
|
|
committee and is confidential under Section 303.006. |
|
|
(c) A nursing peer review committee may report the |
|
|
information collected using the error classification system to the |
|
|
board. The committee may not report information to the board that |
|
|
includes the identity of an individual nurse or patient. |
|
|
(d) Information the board receives under this section that |
|
|
contains information identifying a specific patient, nurse, or |
|
|
health care facility, the committee, or the sponsoring organization |
|
|
of the committee is confidential and is not subject to disclosure |
|
|
under Chapter 552, Government Code. The board must remove the |
|
|
identifying information from the information before making the |
|
|
remaining information available to the public. |
|
|
SECTION 6. Section 301.355, Occupations Code, is repealed. |
|
|
SECTION 7. (a) The change in law made by this Act to |
|
|
Section 301.352(b), Occupations Code, applies only to an act or |
|
|
omission that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. An |
|
|
act or omission that occurs before the effective date of this Act is |
|
|
covered by the law in effect when the act or omission occurred, and |
|
|
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
(b) The change in law made by this Act to Section 301.4551, |
|
|
Occupations Code, applies only to a violation of an order issued by |
|
|
the Texas Board of Nursing that occurs on or after the effective |
|
|
date of this Act. A violation of an order that occurs before the |
|
|
effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the |
|
|
order was violated, and the former law is continued in effect for |
|
|
that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |