H.B. No. 2471




AN ACT
relating to authorizing the Department of State Health Services to issue a single license for multiple hospitals. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 241.023, Health and Safety Code, is amended by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (c-1) through (c-3) to read as follows: (c) Except as provided by Subsection (c-1), the [The] department may issue a license only for the premises of a hospital and person or governmental unit named in the application. (c-1) The department may issue one license for multiple hospitals if: (1) all buildings in which inpatients receive hospital services and inpatient services of each of the hospitals to be included in the license are subject to the control and direction of the same governing body; (2) all buildings in which inpatients receive hospital services are within a 30-mile radius of the main address of the applicant; (3) there is integration of the organized medical staff of each of the hospitals to be included in the license; (4) there is a single chief executive officer for all of the hospitals who reports directly to the governing body and through whom all administrative authority flows and who exercises control and surveillance over all administrative activities of the hospital; (5) there is a single chief medical officer for all of the hospitals who reports directly to the governing body and who is responsible for all medical staff activities of the hospital; (6) each building of a hospital to be included in the license that is geographically separate from other buildings of the same hospital contains at least one nursing unit for inpatients, unless providing only diagnostic or laboratory services, or a combination of diagnostic or laboratory services, in the building for hospital inpatients; and (7) each hospital that is to be included in the license complies with the emergency services standards: (A) for a general hospital, if the hospital provides surgery or obstetrical care or both; or (B) for a special hospital, if the hospital does not provide surgery or obstetrical care. (c-2) The hospital licensing director may recommend a waiver of the requirement of Subsection (c-1)(7) for a hospital if another hospital that is to be included in the license: (1) complies with the emergency services standards for a general hospital; and (2) is in close geographic proximity to the hospital. (c-3) The executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission shall adopt rules to implement the waiver provision of Subsection (c-2). The rules must provide for a determination by the department that the waiver will facilitate the creation or operation of the hospital seeking the waiver and that the waiver is in the best interest of the individuals served or to be served by the hospital. SECTION 2. Section 241.003(14), Health and Safety Code, is repealed. SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only to an application for a license submitted on or after the effective date of this Act. An application for a license submitted before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect on the date the application was submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005. ______________________________ ______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House I certify that H.B. No. 2471 was passed by the House on May 13, 2005, by a non-record vote. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House I certify that H.B. No. 2471 was passed by the Senate on May 25, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. ______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: _____________________ Date _____________________ Governor