Sec. 162.202. COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED BY SCHOOL

(a) A private medical school subject to this subchapter shall establish a committee consisting of at least five actively practicing physicians who provide care in the clinical program of the private medical school. The committee shall approve existing policies, or adopt new policies if none exist, to ensure that a physician whose professional income is retained under Section 162.201 is exercising the physician's independent medical judgment in providing care to patients in the school's clinical programs.

(b) The policies adopted under this section must include policies relating to credentialing, quality assurance, utilization review, peer review, medical decision-making, governance of the committee, and due process.

(c) Each member of a committee under this section shall provide to the board biennially a signed and verified statement indicating that the member:

(1) is licensed by the board;

(2) will exercise independent medical judgment in all committee matters, specifically in matters relating to credentialing, quality assurance, utilization review, peer review, medical decision-making, and due process;

(3) will exercise the member's best efforts to ensure compliance with the private medical school's policies that are adopted or established by the committee; and

(4) shall report immediately to the board any action or event that the member reasonably and in good faith believes constitutes a compromise of the independent judgment of a physician in caring for a patient in the private medical school's clinical program or in carrying out the member's duties as a committee member.

(d) The board shall adopt rules requiring the disclosure of financial conflicts of interest by a committee member.

Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1420, Sec. 14.033(a), eff. Sept. 1, 2001.