Is Your Organization Due for Re-certification by the Texas Medical Board?

If your organization is certified as a non-profit health corporation (formerly known as 5.01(a)s) under the Texas Occupations Code 161.001, your organization is required to submit a biennial report to the Texas Medical Board (TMB). For certified non-profit health organizations that were originally certified in an even number-ending year, you should have received or will receive shortly a notice for the re-certification. The Biennial Recertification is due at the August TMB meeting and should be submitted at least two weeks before the meeting date to avoid penalty.

Most non-profit health corporations will need to amend their Bylaws to reflect recent legislative changes. Effective January 1, 2012, under Texas Occupations Code Section 162.0022, certified health organizations are required to adopt, maintain, and enforce policies to ensure that any physician employed by the corporation exercises independent medical judgment when providing care to patients. The non-profit health corporations are required to adopt policies relating to: (1) credentialing; (2) quality assurance; (3) utilization review; and (4) peer review. The law now requires these policies to be drafted and interpreted in a manner that reserves the sole authority to engage in the practice of medicine to a physician participating in the nonprofit health corporation regardless of the physician’s employment status.

If you need an attorney to review your Bylaws to ensure compliance with the new changes or to determine whether your non-profit health organization is up for recertification, please contact Marilyn Robertson.