GENERAL RULES REGARDING COMPLAINT INVESTIGATION; DISPOSITION.

(a) The board shall adopt rules concerning the investigation and review of a complaint filed with the board. The rules adopted under this section must:

(1) distinguish among categories of complaints and give priority to complaints that involve sexual misconduct, quality of care, and impaired physician issues;

(2) ensure that a complaint is not dismissed without appropriate consideration;

(3) require that the board be advised of the dismissal of a complaint and that a letter be sent to the person who filed the complaint and to the physician who was the subject of the complaint explaining the action taken on the complaint;

(4) ensure that a person who files a complaint has an opportunity to explain the allegations made in the complaint;

(5) prescribe guidelines concerning the categories of complaints that require the use of a private investigator and the procedures for the board to obtain the services of a private investigator;

(6) provide for an expert physician panel authorized under Subsection (e) to assist with complaints and investigations relating to medical competency; and

(7) require the review of reports filed with the National Practitioner Data Bank for any report of the termination, limitation, suspension, limitation in scope of practice, or probation of clinical or hospital staff privileges of a physician by:

(A) a hospital;

(B) a health maintenance organization;

(C) an independent practice association;

(D) an approved nonprofit health corporation certified under Section 162.001; or

(E) a physician network.

(b) The board shall:

(1) dispose of each complaint in a timely manner; and

(2) establish a schedule for conducting each phase of a complaint that is under the control of the board not later than the 30th day after the date the board receives the complaint.

(c) The executive director shall notify the board of a complaint that is unresolved after the time prescribed by the board for resolving the complaint so that the board may take necessary action on the complaint.

(d) The board shall adopt other rules as appropriate to administer this subchapter.

(e) The board by rule shall provide for an expert physician panel appointed by the board to assist with complaints and investigations relating to medical competency by acting as expert physician reviewers. Each member of the expert physician panel must be licensed to practice medicine in a member state, as defined by Section 171.002. The rules adopted under this subsection must include provisions governing the composition of the panel, qualifications for membership on the panel, length of time a member may serve on the panel, grounds for removal from the panel, the avoidance of conflicts of interest, including situations in which the affected physician and the panel member live or work in the same geographical area or are competitors, and the duties to be performed by the panel. The board's rules governing grounds for removal from the panel must include providing for the removal of a panel member who is repeatedly delinquent in reviewing complaints and in submitting reports to the board. The board's rules governing appointment of expert physician panel members to act as expert physician reviewers must include a requirement that the board randomly select, to the extent permitted by Section 154.058(b) and the conflict of interest provisions adopted under this subsection, panel members to review a complaint who are:

(1) licensed to practice medicine in this state; or

(2) licensed to practice medicine in a member state, as defined by Section 171.002, if there are no panel members licensed to practice medicine in this state available to review the complaint in a timely manner.

(f) In the board rules adopted under Subsection (a)(3), the board shall require that the letter informing the person who filed the complaint of the dismissal of the complaint include an explanation of the reason the complaint was dismissed.