HBA-MPM C.S.H.B. 2050 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2050 By: Thompson Public Health 4/30/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, acupuncturists are subject to the regulatory authority of the Board of Medical Examiners (board) in the same manner that physicians and other practitioners are regulated by the board. Current law gives the Acupuncture Board very little power or authority, as all significant actions are subject to the approval of the board. C.S.H.B. 2050 deletes the requirement that the Acupuncture Board (board) establish certain requirements for students who have completed at least 48 hours of college and authorizes the board to establish minimum educational and training requirements necessary for an individual to receive a license to practice acupuncture. The bill further grants the board additional freedom with respect to setting certain fees and preparing certain financial reports. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Acupuncture Board in SECTION 1 (Section 6.05, Article 4495b, V.T.C.S.) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 6.05, Article 4495b (Medical Practice Act), to delete the requirement that the Acupuncture Board (board) establish requirements for a tutorial program for students who have completed at least 48 semester hours of college. Requires the board, by rule, and without the advice and approval of the Texas Medical Board, to establish minimum educational and training requirements necessary for the board to recommend that the medical board issue a license to practice acupuncture. Requires the board in establishing these requirements to consider adopting the minimum established by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. Makes conforming changes. SECTION 2. Amends Section 6.07(d), Medical Practice Act, to require the board to adopt, rather than authorize it to consider, the same standards set by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in establishing standards for the entrance requirements and course of instruction of an acupuncture school. SECTION 3. Amends Section 6.075, Medical Practice Act, to authorize the board, through the executive director of the medical board, to issue a temporary license to an applicant who pays the appropriate fee prescribed by the acupuncture board, rather than the medical board. SECTION 4. Amends Section 6.09, Medical Practice Act, to make conforming changes. SECTION 5. Amends Sections 6.10 (d), (e), (f), and (h), Medical Practice Act, to make conforming changes. SECTION 6. Amends Sections 6.115(a), Medical Practice Act, to require a license to practice acupuncture to be denied, or, after notice and hearing, revoked if the license holder has performed acupuncture on a person who was not evaluated by a physician or dentist, as appropriate, for the condition being treated within 12, rather than six, months before the date acupuncture was performed, except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section. SECTION 7.Emergency clause. Effective date: 90 days after adjournment. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2050 differs from the original as follows: The substitute deletes proposed SECTION 1 of the original, which amended Section 6.02 (Definitions), Article 4495b, V.T.C.S. (Medical Practice Act), to modify the definitions contained therein. SECTION 1 of the substitute is redesignated from SECTION 2 of the original, which amends Section 6.05, Article 4495b, V.T.C.S. The original reinstates the requirement that the Acupuncture Board (board) establish minimum educational and training requirements necessary for the board to recommend that the medical board issue a license to practice acupuncture. The substitute gives the board rulemaking authority to establish minimum educational and training requirements necessary for the board to recommend that a license to practice acupuncture be issued and makes conforming changes with respect to this change. The substitute specifies that minimum educational and training requirements established by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, rather than the National Accreditation Commission for Schools and College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, be considered with respect to these requirements. SECTION 2 is redesignated from SECTION 3 of the original and further modifies Section 6.07(d), Article 5584b, V.T.C.S., to make a conforming change. SECTIONS 3-5 of the substitute are redesignated from SECTIONS 4-6 of the original and make no changes. SECTION 6 of the substitute is redesignated from SECTION 7 of the original and amends only Section 6.115(a), rather than Sections 6.115(a) and (f), Article 4495b, V.T.C.S., as amended in the original. The substitute makes no changes in Subsection (a), but in deleting Subsection (f), the substitute removes a list of specific medical disorders, preventive treatment, addictions, or rehabilitative treatment that an acupuncturist holding a current and valid license is authorized to treat without the patient having been evaluated by a physician. SECTION 7 (emergency clause) of the substitute is redesignated from SECTION 8 of the original and replaces the long emergency clause of the original with the short emergency clause.