The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council adopts amendments to §883.1, relating to Renewal of a License. Section 883.1 is adopted without changes to the proposed text as published in the November 17, 2023, issue of the Texas Register (48 TexReg 6727) and will not be republished.

Reasoned Justification.

The adopted amendments require licensees selected for audit during renewal to obtain and submit a National Practitioner Data Base self-query. Council rule §882.2 requires new applicants to submit an NPDB self-query with their application, but previously there was no Council rule that required current licensees to submit an NPDB self-query. In a recent audit conducted by the State Auditor's Office, the lack of any required NPDB self-query for licensure renewal was identified as an area of concern for the licensing functions of the Council. Section 507.258 of the Occupations Code requires the Council to establish a process to search a national practitioner database to determine whether another state has taken any disciplinary or other legal action against an applicant or license holder before issuing an initial or renewal license. Therefore, these rule amendments have been adopted to address this identified area of concern, and to further implement §507.258 of the Occupations Code.

List of interested groups or associations against the rule.

None.

Summary of comments against the rule.

A commenter disagreed with this rule change, stating that there are too many fees for a licensee that holds multiple licenses issued by the Council and requests a reduction in fees for such individuals. The commenter opines that individuals that hold multiple licenses must comply with multiple requirements: jurisprudence exams, continuing education fees, license fees, and now multiple NPDB query fees. The commenter concludes that such individuals should not be penalized for holding multiple licenses.

List of interested groups or associations for the rule.

None.

Summary of comments for the rule.

A commenter agreed with this proposed rule change.

Agency Response.

The Council declines to amend the rule as requested by the commenter. This rule change does not directly affect the fees charged to all licensees for the renewal of a license. Only those licensees selected for audit, which under Council rule §882.50 is 5% of licensees renewing, will be required to pay an additional fee. And the current fee for an NBDP self-query is approximately $3.00, which is paid directly to NPDB. Only one NBDP self-query would be required to comply with this requirement, regardless of the number of licenses held by the individual, because the query pertains to the individual and not a particular license. The Council finds that an additional $3.00 fee for 5% of licensees renewing biannually to be so nominal that it should have no economic impact on licensees, and therefore declines to amend the rule to make an exception for individuals with multiple licenses as requested by the commenter.

The Council thanks the commenter for their supportive comments.

Statutory Authority.

The rule is adopted under Tex. Occ. Code, Title 3, Subtitle I, Chapter 507, which provides the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council with the authority to make all rules, not inconsistent with the Constitution and Laws of this State, which are reasonably necessary for the proper performance of its duties and regulations of proceedings before it.

Additionally, the Executive Council adopts this rule pursuant to the authority found in §507.152 of the Tex. Occ. Code which vests the Executive Council with the authority to adopt rules necessary to perform its duties and implement Chapter 507 of the Tex. Occ. Code.

The Executive Council also adopts this rule under the authority found in §2001.004 of the Tex. Gov't Code which requires state agencies to adopt rules of practice stating the nature and requirements of all available formal and informal procedures.

Lastly, the Executive Council adopts this rule pursuant to the authority found in §507.258 of the Tex. Occ. Code which requires the Executive Council to establish a process to search a national practitioner database to determine whether another state has taken any disciplinary or other legal action against an applicant or license holder before issuing an initial or renewal license.