Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
The following words and terms (concerning General
Definitions), when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings,
unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Acceptable approved medical school--A
medical school or college located in the United States or Canada that has been
accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the American
Osteopathic Association Bureau of Professional Education.
(2) Acceptable unapproved medical school--A
school or college located outside the United States or Canada that:
(A) is substantially equivalent to a Texas
medical school; and
(B) has not
been disapproved by a state physician licensing or education agency.
(i) If another state's physician licensing
agency or education agency has determined that a medical degree conferred by a
medical school is not the equivalent of an accredited or authorized degree or
has otherwise disapproved the medical school, the board will not recognize the
medical school as an acceptable unapproved medical school, unless:
(I) the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board has determined that a degree conferred by the medical school is the
equivalent of an accredited or authorized degree through the review process
described by §
61.3021,
Texas Education Code; or
(II) the
applicant can provide evidence that the determination or disapproval by the
other state was unfounded.
(ii) A fraudulent or substandard medical
school operating outside the United States or Canada shall not be an acceptable
unapproved medical school. "Fraudulent or substandard," as used in this
subsection, has the meaning assigned by §
61.302, Texas
Education Code. If the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board certifies that
it has determined, through the review process described by §
61.3021,
Texas Education Code, that a medical degree conferred by a medical school is
not the equivalent of an accredited or authorized degree, the board will not
recognize the medical school as an acceptable unapproved medical
school.
(iii) This section shall
not affect any person who received a license from the board prior to a
determination by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board through the
review process described by § 31.3021, Texas Education Code.
(3) Affiliated
hospital--Affiliation status of a hospital with a medical school as defined by
the Liaison Committee on Medical Education and documented by the medical school
in its application for accreditation.
(4) Applicant--One who files an application
as defined in this section.
(5)
Application--An application is all documents and information necessary to
complete an applicant's request for licensure including the following:
(A) forms furnished by the board, completed
by the applicant:
(i) all forms and addenda
requiring a written response must be typed, printed in ink, or completed
online;
(ii) photographs must meet
United States Government passport standards;
(B) all documents required under §
163.5 of
this title (relating to Licensure Documentation); and
(C) the required fee.
(6) Board--Texas Medical Board.
(7) Continuous--12 month periods of
uninterrupted postgraduate training with no absences greater than 21 days,
unless such absences have been approved by the training program.
(8) Good professional character--An applicant
for licensure must not be in violation of or have committed any act described
in the Medical Practice Act, Texas Occupations Code Annotated, §§
164.051
-
164.053.
(9) One-year training program--A program that
is one continuous year of postgraduate training approved by the board that is:
(A) accepted for certification by a specialty
board that is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties or the
Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists; or
(B) accredited by one of the following:
(i) the Accreditation Council for Graduate
Medical Education, or its predecessor;
(ii) the American Osteopathic
Association;
(iii) the Committee on
Accreditation of Preregistration Physician Training Programs, Federation of
Provincial Medical Licensing Authorities of Canada;
(iv) the Royal College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Canada; or
(v) the
College of Family Physicians of Canada; or
(C) a postresidency program, usually called a
fellowship, performed in the U.S. or Canada and approved by the board for
additional training in a medical specialty or subspecialty; or
(D) a U.S. or Canadian graduate medical
education training program, that subsequently received accreditation by the
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), American
Osteopathic Association (AOA) or Royal College of Physicians, and was accepted
by a specialty board that is a member of the American Board of Medical
Specialties, the Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists, or the Royal College of
Physicians for Board certification purposes.
(10) Sixty (60) semester hours of college
courses--60 semester hours of college courses other than in medical school that
are acceptable to The University of Texas at Austin for credit on a bachelor of
arts degree or a bachelor of science degree; the entire primary, secondary, and
premedical education required in the country of medical school graduation, if
the medical school is located outside the United States or Canada; or
substantially equivalent courses as determined by the board.
(11) Substantially equivalent to a Texas
medical school--A medical school or college shall be considered to be
substantially equivalent to a Texas medical school under the following
conditions:
(A) An acceptable approved
medical school shall be considered to be substantially equivalent to a Texas
medical school. A medical school operating within the United States or Canada
that is not an acceptable approved medical school shall not be considered to be
substantially equivalent to a Texas medical school.
(B) A medical school operating outside the
United States or Canada may be determined to be substantially equivalent to a
Texas medical school if the medical school is designed to select and educate
medical students and provide students with the opportunity to acquire a sound
basic medical education through training in basic sciences and clinical
sciences. The school should provide information about the school's program of
advancement of knowledge through research; the school's development of programs
of graduate medical education to produce practitioners, teachers, and
researchers; and, the school's program to provide opportunity for postgraduate
and continuing medical education, for the board's consideration. In addition,
to be determined substantially equivalent to a Texas medical school, the
medical school's characteristics shall include, but not be limited to, the
following:
(i) The facilities for basic
sciences and clinical training (i.e., laboratories, hospitals, library, etc.)
shall be adequate to ensure opportunity for proper education.
(ii) The admissions standards shall ensure
that the medical school has a pool of applicants sufficiently large and
possessing United States national level qualifications to fill its entering
class. Medical schools must select students who possess the intelligence,
integrity, and personal and emotional characteristics necessary for them to
become effective physicians.
(iii)
The curriculum shall meet the requirements for an unapproved medical school as
set forth in the "Curriculum Definitions for Course Areas Prescribed by the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for Determining Eligibility of
International Medical Graduates for Texas Medical Licensure," as adopted by the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, as follows:
(I) The basic sciences curriculum shall
include the contemporary content of those expanded disciplines that have been
traditionally titled gross anatomy, biochemistry, biology, physiology,
microbiology, immunology, pathology, pharmacology, and neuroscience.
(II) The fundamental clinical subjects, which
shall be offered in the form of required patient-related clerkships, are
internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, family
practice, and surgery.
(iv) The curriculum shall be of at least 130
weeks in duration.
(v) There must
be integrated institutional responsibility for the overall design, management
and evaluation of a coherent and coordinated curriculum.
(vi) For schools that have geographically
separated programs, the principal academic officer of each geographically
remote site must coordinate the curriculum with an academic officer of the
medical school responsible for organizing the educational program.
(12) Texas Medical
Jurisprudence Examination (JP exam)--The ethics examination developed by the
board.
(13) Two-year training
program--Two continuous years of postgraduate training in the United States or
Canada, progressive in nature that is:
(A)
accredited by one of the following:
(i) the
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education;
(ii) the American Osteopathic
Association;
(iii) the Committee on
Accreditation of Preregistration Physician Training Programs, Federation of
Provincial Medical Licensing Authorities of Canada;
(iv) the Royal College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Canada;
(v) the College
of Family Physicians of Canada; or
(vi) all programs approved by the board after
August 25, 1984; or
(B)
a board-approved program for which a Faculty Temporary License was issued for a
full time teaching faculty position as defined under §
172.8(i)
of this title (relating to Faculty Temporary License);
(C) a postresidency program, usually called a
fellowship, for additional training in a medical specialty or subspecialty,
approved by the board; or
(D) a
U.S. or Canadian graduate medical education training program, that subsequently
received accreditation by the ACGME, AOA or Royal College of Physicians, and
was accepted by a specialty board that is a member of the American Board of
Medical Specialties, the Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists, or the Royal
College of Physicians for Board certification purposes.
(14) License Holder--A person holding a
license, permit, or certificate issued by the Board, including a "licensee" as
defined by Board rules.
(15)
Military service member--A person who is on active duty.
(16) Military spouse--A person who is married
to a military service member.
(17)
Military veteran--A person who served on active duty and who was discharged or
released from active duty.
(18)
Active duty--A person who is currently serving as full-time military service
member in the armed forces of the United States or active duty military service
as a member of the Texas military forces, as defined by §
437.001, Government
Code, or similar military service of another state.
(19) Armed forces of the United States--Army,
Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps of the United States or a reserve
unit of one of those branches of the armed forces.
