Bill Text: TX SB1750 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to a physician's authority to delegate prescribing acts to physician assistants.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-23 - Referred to Finance [SB1750 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-SB1750-Introduced.html

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82R11302 JAM-F
By: Uresti S.B. No. 1750

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a physician's authority to delegate prescribing acts to
physician assistants.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 157.0542(a), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) On determining that the conditions of Subsection (b)
have been met, the board may waive or modify any of the site or
supervision requirements for a physician to delegate the carrying
out or signing of prescription drug orders to an advanced practice
nurse or physician assistant under Sections 157.052, 157.053,
157.054, [and] 157.0541, and 157.0543, or under board rules. The
board may not waive the limitation on the number of primary or
alternate practice sites at which a physician may delegate the
carrying out or signing of prescription drug orders or the number of
advanced practice nurses or physician assistants to whom a
physician may delegate the carrying out or signing of prescription
drug orders, except as provided by Subsection (b-1)(1).
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 157, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 157.0543 to read as follows:
Sec. 157.0543. PRESCRIBING AT OTHER SITES. (a) This
section applies only to the delegation of prescriptive authority
at:
(1) a medical school or dental school or an outpatient
clinic associated with a medical or dental school;
(2) a hospital, including any outpatient facility or
clinic of a hospital;
(3) a hospice established under 40 T.A.C. Section
97.403 or defined by 42 C.F.R. Section 418.3;
(4) a facility maintained or operated by this state;
(5) a clinic maintained or operated by the United
States; and
(6) a clinic owned or operated by a physician who
treats patients within the physician's area of specialty and who
uses other forms of treatment, including surgery, with the issuance
of a prescription for a majority of the patients.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 157.0511(b), at a location
described by Subsection (a), a physician may delegate to one or more
physician assistants acting under adequate physician supervision
the administering, providing, carrying out, or signing of a
prescription drug order for a controlled substance listed in
Schedule II as established by the commissioner of state health
services under Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code.
(c) Physician supervision of the carrying out and signing of
prescription drug orders must conform to what a reasonable, prudent
physician would find consistent with sound medical judgment but may
vary with the education and experience of the particular physician
assistant. A physician shall provide continuous supervision, but
the constant physical presence of the physician is not required.
(d) An alternate physician may provide appropriate
supervision on a temporary basis as defined and established by
board rule.
(e) A physician's authority to delegate under Subsection
(b) is limited as follows:
(1) the delegation must be made under a physician's
order, standing medical order, or standing delegation order, or
another order or protocol as defined by the board;
(2) the delegation must occur in a location described
by Subsection (a) in which the physician practices; and
(3) the delegation may not permit the carrying out or
signing of prescription drug orders for the care or treatment of the
patients of any other physician without the prior consent of that
physician.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.