SB1318

Physicians retain protections for access to a list of patients seen or treated in the year before termination, access to patient-authorized records and copies for permitted reasonable fees, and continued care during a patient’s acute illness. A different record format cannot be demanded absent mutual agreement. The law replaces the prior physician buyout standard of a reasonable price or arbitration-determined amount with the annual-salary-and-wages ceiling. It does not copy all these physician-specific patient-access provisions into the new dentist/nurse/physician-assistant section. Prior physician noncompete law; Medical-record fee provision; Final law.

For the physician requirements in subsection (b), “practice of medicine” excludes managing or directing medical services in an administrative capacity for a medical practice or other health-care provider. The existing subsection (c) exclusion from subsection (b) for a physician’s ownership interest in a licensed hospital or ambulatory surgical center also remains. These limits should not be described as a blanket exemption from every noncompete law. Final law, section 15.50(b-1); Retained ownership-interest provision.

The underlying requirement that a covenant be part of an otherwise enforceable agreement and reasonably limited in time, geography and restrained activity remains. A one-year/five-mile covenant is therefore not automatically enforceable merely because it meets the new numerical ceilings. The act also adds the practitioner section to the statute’s exclusive enforceability framework and revises its preemption wording; existing court procedures and remedies remain in section 15.51. This is not a determination that a state statute overrides applicable federal law. Final law, sections 15.50(a), 15.52; Existing enforcement procedures and remedies.

The introduced and Senate committee texts match. Schwertner’s adopted Senate amendment supplied the primary-practice-location reference for the radius and an administrative-role exclusion. Bonnen’s adopted House amendment added the clear-writing requirement and physician discharge-without-good-cause protection, expanded the administrative wording to other health-care providers, limited practitioner covenants to their respective practices, and corrected the radius reference to the practitioner’s own primary location. It replaced the earlier “as specified in the covenant” wording. Those House changes survive; the Senate concurred May 28. Introduced bill; Senate committee text; Senate amendment; Senate-passed text; House committee text; House amendment; Text versions; Both indexed amendments.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Covered clinicians gain limits on how long and how far a noncompete can restrict practice, and on the price of buying out the covenant. Patients may benefit from physician continuity protections. Employers and practices lose some contractual flexibility and may need to revise new or renewed agreements. The act does not measure wage gains, hiring changes or patient access, and an individual dispute still depends on the agreement, role, renewal date and termination circumstances. Final law.

The March 24 introduced, May 14 Senate-passed and May 23 post-House fiscal notes anticipate no state or local-government fiscal implication, assuming any state costs can be absorbed within existing resources. The enrolled fiscal link repeats the May 23 note. These notes do not quantify private buyout changes, litigation costs or employer losses, and the act makes no appropriation. Introduced fiscal note; Senate-passed fiscal note; Post-House fiscal note; Enrolled fiscal link.