As part of a new state law providing expanded services for sexual assault survivors, Texas physicians working in emergency departments and urgent care centers with licenses expiring Feb. 28, 2027, or later will be required to complete two hours of CME on forensic evidence collection as a condition of license renewal.
As of this writing, the Texas College of Emergency Physicians was preparing a CME course to meet the mandate, and the Texas Medical Board (TMB) had finalized a process for approving courses in coordination with the Governor’s Sexual Assault Survivors’ Task Force.
TMB says its timeline is predicated on the CME being available by Dec. 1, when the renewal period begins for those with licenses expiring at the end of February 2027.
Texas Medicine Today will provide updates on eligible courses as they become available as well as the status of the proposed TMB-related rule.
House Bill 47, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2025, directs TMB to require certain physicians and physician assistants to complete coursework on:
- Trauma-informed care for sexual assault survivors;
- Appropriate community referrals and prophylactic medications;
- The rights of a sexual assault survivor under Texas law;
- Forensic evidence collection methods; and
- Texas law covering the custody, transfer, and tracking of forensic evidence.
Per TMB’s online guidance, physicians board-certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine, American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine, or the Board of Certification in Emergency Medicine must complete the CME.
TMB also identifies additional specialties that may be subject to the requirement – cautioning, however, that “the determinative factor is not your specialty,” but rather whether the physician works in an emergency department or urgent care setting. If not working in that setting, a physician can attest in CE Broker to be exempted. More details are in the Texas Medical Association Knowledge Center’s FAQ on the topic.
Eligible specialties per TMB’s classifications include:
- Critical care medicine (internal medicine);
- Critical care medicine (obstetrics-gynecology);
- Emergency medical services;
- Emergency medicine;
- Emergency/trauma radiology;
- Family practice – emergency medicine;
- Internal medicine – emergency medicine;
- Pediatric emergency medicine (EM);
- Pediatric emergency medicine (PEDS);
- Sports medicine – emergency medicine;
- Urgent care – family practice; and
- Urgent care medicine.
Emergency physicians are often the first clinicians a sexual assault survivor encounters, said J. Lane Schnell, MD, an Athens emergency medicine physician and chair of TMA’s Committee on Emergency Medical Services and Trauma.
“We need to make sure that we’re up on those skills because we’re usually the first line of care for patients who have been assaulted or sexually assaulted,” Dr. Schnell said. “If those patients show up to an emergency department and then there’s not a clear protocol on what to do and how to do it, it kind of becomes daunting, and those patients don’t get the best care.”
The forthcoming CME, he added, will “help fill a need for a very vulnerable group of patients that we see in the emergency care setting.”
Hilary Fairbrother, MD, a Houston emergency physician and committee member, added, “The evidence collection is by nature a very intrusive exam. So, to do all of this in a really trauma-informed way is very important.”
TMA is preparing physicians for the upcoming requirement via an article hosted in the association’s Knowledge Center.
And don’t forget: State-mandated CME reporting requirements also begin soon. As of Sept. 1, physicians are required to record CME credits through CE Broker.
Phil West
Associate Editor
(512) 370-1394
phil.west[at]texmed[dot]org
Phil West is a writer and editor whose publications include the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Austin American-Statesman, and San Antonio Express-News. He earned a BA in journalism from the University of Washington and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s James A. Michener Center for Writers. He lives in Austin with his wife, children, and a trio of free-spirited dogs.