The Texas State Legislature in 1991 passed a law creating the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings, or SOAH. It is meant to be an independent forum, under a banner of neutrality, before which legal and agency disputes between the general public and agencies, as well as Texas licensing boards, can be reviewed and decided. Its purpose is to mete out efficient legal decisions in a timely manner, having viewed them from an objective and...
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The pharmacists of Texas get a lot of education and jump through numerous hoops in order to obtain their licenses to practice pharmacology. They are professionals of the highest order. Yet, on occasion, an improper dispensation of medication occurs—often referred to as a "medication error." Mistakes are made in any profession, and health care is no exception. It should come as no surprise to a practicing pharmacist that an error in dispensing medication may result...
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Veterinarians in Texas go through years of education and training to obtain the chops to do the job. And at the end of this long, arduous process comes licensure. The organization that licenses Veterinarians in Texas is the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, which also maintains the integrity of the profession by accepting and prosecuting formal complaints made against licensed practitioners. A complaint can, at times, result in the loss of a veterinarian's license....
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In the state of Texas, chiropractors are licensed by the Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners, an agency whose mission is to "promote, preserve, and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the people of Texas by licensing skilled professionals and enforcing standards of practice." A major means it uses to enforce its dictates is by accepting formal complaints from the public and others within the profession against its licensees who are alleged to have broken...
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When someone files a formal complaint against a professional counselor with the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors—a subsidiary organization to the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council—it puts the counselor's career, livelihood, and reputation on the line. No counselor wants to see go to waste all of the dedication they have put into their training on how to help their fellow Texans through the difficult issues they confront in their lives. Yet this...
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The Texas Board of Nursing takes the regulation of its licensees very seriously. It is responsible not just for the initial licensure of nurses—in the course of which it naturally takes into account the quality and amount of prospective nurses' education—but for ensuring that every licensed nurse maintains the quality of care they are providing throughout their careers. And as part of this, we find the requirement that every nurse demonstrate their ongoing competency to...
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The licensed acupuncturists of Texas work hard for years to earn their right to ease the pain of our citizens using time-tested techniques based in non-surgical and non-incisive methods, as well as herbal and dietary guidelines that are non-invasive yet effective. The Texas State Board of Acupuncture Examiners, a subsidiary organization of the Texas Medical Board, is the oversight authority for these practitioners. It maintains the profession using strong licensing regulations. A formal complaint made...
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The Texas Medical Board's regulation of medical practitioners includes many aspects. It has the responsibility of screening for initial licensure and of maintaining the standards of the profession by enforcing adherence to ongoing licensure requirements. This includes the right to suspend or revoke the licenses of physicians after a complaint has been made where it finds the physician to have broken a Board rule, to have violated the professional standard of care, or to have...
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If you're a Texas teacher, you are subject to the rules set by the State Board for Educator Certification, a subsidiary of the Texas Education Agency. This Board is charged with licensing teachers and maintaining the standards of teachers who work for the state of Texas. The citizens of Texas are beholden to teachers, who provide the educations that later make our work-lives possible, as well as setting in place the classroom structure that makes...
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While there is no requirement in Texas to obtain a license in order to title oneself a "dietitian," anyone wishing to refer to oneself as a "Licensed Dietitian" or a "Provisionally Licensed Dietitian" must obtain a license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. A practitioner of Dietetics is engaged in the application of up-to-date scientific information regarding the effects of food and nutrition on the human body and mind. This information is of...
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