SECTION 180.24. Financial Disclosure

(a) Definitions. The following words and terms when used in this section shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) Compensation arrangement--Any arrangement involving any remuneration between a health care practitioner (or a member of a health care practitioner's immediate family) and a health care provider.

(2) Financial interest means:

(A) an interest of a health care practitioner, including an interest of the health care provider who employs the health care practitioner, or an interest of an immediate family member of the health care practitioner, which constitutes a direct or indirect ownership or investment interest in a health care provider; or

(B) a direct or indirect compensation arrangement between the health care practitioner, the health care provider who employs the referring health care practitioner, or an immediate family member of the health care practitioner and a health care provider.

(3) Immediate family member--Immediate family member or member of a doctor's immediate family means husband or wife; birth or adoptive parent, child, or sibling; stepparent, stepchild, stepbrother, or stepsister; father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; grandparent or grandchild; and spouse of a grandparent or grandchild.

(b) Submission of Financial Disclosure Information to the division.

(1) If a health care practitioner refers an injured employee to another health care provider in which the health care practitioner, or the health care provider that employs the health care practitioner, has a financial interest, the health care practitioner shall file a disclosure with the division within 30 days of the date the first referral is made unless the disclosure was previously made. This annual disclosure shall be filed for each health care provider to whom an injured employee is referred and shall include the information in paragraph (2) of this subsection.

(2) The health care practitioner's disclosures in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall at a minimum include:

(A) the disclosing health care practitioner's name, business address, federal tax identification number, professional license number, and any other unique identification number;

(B) the name(s), business address(es), federal tax identification number(s), professional license number(s), and any other unique identification number of the health care provider(s) in which the disclosing health care practitioner has a financial interest as defined in subsection (a)(2) of this section; and

(C) the nature of the financial interest including, but not limited to, percentage of ownership, type of ownership (e.g., direct or indirect, equity, mortgage), type of compensation arrangement (e.g., salary, contractual arrangement, stock as part of a salary payment) and the entity with the ownership (disclosing health care practitioner, the health care provider who employs the health care practitioner, or an immediate family member of the health care practitioner).

(c) Failure to disclose. In addition to any sanctions provided by the Act and rules, failure to disclose a financial interest by a health care provider is an administrative violation and is subject to a penalty of forfeiture of the right to reimbursement for any services rendered on the claim during the period of noncompliance, regardless of whether the circumstances of the services themselves were subject to disclosure, and regardless of whether the services were medically necessary.

(1) Limitations on billing. A health care practitioner who rendered services on a claim during a period in which the practitioner was out of compliance with the disclosure requirements under this section for that claim, regardless of whether the circumstances of the services themselves were subject to disclosure, shall not present or cause to be presented a claim or bill to any individual, third party payer, or other entity for those services (regardless of whether the services were medically necessary).

(2) Refunds. If a health care practitioner collects any amounts that were billed for services on a claim provided during a period in which the practitioner was in noncompliance with the disclosure requirements of this section for that claim, regardless of whether the circumstances of the services themselves were subject to disclosure, the practitioner shall be liable to the individual or entity for, and shall timely refund, any amounts collected (regardless of whether the services were medically necessary).

(3) Rebuttable Presumption. A referral for services to a health care provider by a health care practitioner under circumstances which required a disclosure under this section, but which was not timely disclosed as required, creates a rebuttable presumption that the services were not medically necessary unless one of the statutory and regulatory exceptions that apply to referrals in Title 42, United States Code §1395nn(b)-(e) applies to the referral in question. Whenever one of these exceptions is revised and effective, the revised exception shall be effective for referrals made on or after the effective date of the revision.

Source Note: The provisions of this §180.24 adopted to be effective March 14, 2002, 27 TexReg 1817; amended to be effective January 9, 2011, 35 TexReg 11873