Legal Pearls: Texas Medical Board Institutes Rule Requiring Doctors to Report Criminal and Disciplinary Actions

The Rule

In response, the Texas Medical Board approved a major rule change in June 2022 that will impact patient safety and transparency. The new rule requires physicians to self-report criminal convictions, out-of-state disciplinary actions, and medical malpractice claims within 30 days. Previously, such reports only had to be made once every 2 years. The board says it is now more proactively updating its online profiles of physicians.

The President of the board said that he wants the legislature to require all physicians (not just new licensees as is required currently) to be fingerprinted. Additionally, the board intends to ask legislators to fund continuous monitoring of every doctor in the state with the National Practitioner Data Bank.

The Bottom Line

The challenge for the Texas Medical Board, according to the President of the board, is balancing a physician’s right to due process with evidence available to the board, which can be difficult without a criminal conviction.

The President of the board says he intends to continue to improve the Texas Medical Board and better protect patients. He was also was critical of a recent legislative proposal to eliminate confidential complaints against doctors, explaining that physicians may be afraid of retaliation for filing a complaint against another physician.

Ann W. Latner, JD, is a freelance writer and attorney based in New York. She was formerly the director of periodicals at the American Pharmacists Association and editor of Pharmacy Times.