In Texas, the main reasons your physician assistant (PA) license can get revoked include fraud, criminal conduct, unsafe practice, prescribing violations, sexual misconduct, serious competence concerns, and conduct that shows a license holder cannot practice safely.
A Texas physician assistant license defense lawyer can help when the Texas Medical Board (TMB) raises questions about conduct that may lead to disciplinary action.
Bertolino LLP represents physician assistants when complaints, investigations, or proposed sanctions threaten their ability to keep practicing.
What Can Happen After the Texas Medical Board Receives a Complaint?
A complaint involving a physician assistant can lead to a TMB investigation, requests for records, and possible disciplinary action. The Texas Physician Assistant Board licenses PAs and decides what action the allegations and evidence support.
Bertolino LLP can review the complaint and supporting records before the physician assistant responds. A Texas medical license defense lawyer can also identify which disciplinary rule the Board may apply and what information needs an explanation.
Revocation is one possible outcome, but Texas law gives the Board several other disciplinary options. Depending on the case, those can include probation, additional training, license restrictions, suspension, administrative penalties, public reprimands, or required treatment.
Which Violations Can Lead to PA License Revocation?
Texas Occupations Code § 204.301 gives the Board authority to discipline a physician assistant under Chapter 204. The law covers a range of conduct that can put a PA license at risk.
Conduct that can place a physician assistant license in serious jeopardy includes:
- Fraud or deception involving a license or professional representation.
- A felony conviction, deferred adjudication, or pretrial diversion.
- State-law violations connected with PA practice.
- False prescriptions or improper drug records.
- Unsafe or unacceptable medical practice.
- Nontherapeutic prescribing, dispensing, or administration of drugs.
- Discipline from another state or the United States military, or qualifying hospital or medical staff discipline.
- Sexual abuse or exploitation through PA practice.
- A condition or substance use that prevents safe practice.
Bertolino LLP examines which statutory ground the Board has raised and how the available evidence relates to it. The specific allegation matters because the Board has several disciplinary options and does not use revocation in every case.
How Criminal Conduct, Fraud, and Prescribing Problems Can Affect a PA License
Criminal allegations can create a second set of concerns for a physician assistant when the Texas Medical Board starts reviewing the same conduct. Bertolino LLP can look at the criminal record, the Board’s allegations, and how Tex. Occ. Code § 204.303 applies to the licensing case.
Healthcare fraud can also put a professional license at risk. The Board may consider false statements, altered credentials, deceptive billing, or other dishonest conduct. What matters is how the alleged conduct connects to the PA’s license, practice, and professional responsibilities.
Prescribing issues can lead to Board action when a PA uses delegated authority in a way Texas law does not allow. Problems may involve false prescriptions, inaccurate drug records, or nontherapeutic decisions to prescribe medication, especially when controlled substances are involved.
Can Substance Use or a Health Condition Cost a Physician Assistant a License?
A health condition or substance use issue becomes a licensing concern when it affects the PA’s ability to practice with reasonable skill and safety. Tex. Occ. Code § 204.304 specifically addresses habitual drug or alcohol use and mental or physical conditions that prevent safe practice.
Treatment by itself does not disqualify a license holder. The TMB states that counseling or other mental health treatment alone does not make someone unfit to practice. The Board looks at whether the condition affects safe professional performance.
The Texas Physician Health Program provides confidential monitoring and assistance for eligible physician assistants with substance use, mental health, or other potentially impairing conditions. Bertolino LLP can help a PA understand how a health-related concern may intersect with a Board inquiry or disciplinary record.
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How Patient Care and Sexual Misconduct Allegations Can Lead to Discipline
Problems with patient care can put a PA license at risk when the Board believes the conduct falls below the standards required to protect public health. Repeated meritorious health care liability claims can also raise questions about professional incompetence.
Action by a hospital or medical staff can create a separate licensing concern. A restriction, suspension, or loss of privileges tied to professional conduct may lead the Board to take a closer look at the same underlying events.
Sexual abuse or exploitation connected to PA practice can also support discipline under § 204.304. Bertolino LLP can review records and communications that help show what happened and how the allegation fits the Board’s rules.
What Can the Board Do Before Revoking a PA License?
Before revocation, the Board can impose several other sanctions depending on the conduct and circumstances. Bertolino LLP can help a physician assistant understand what the Board is proposing and how those restrictions may affect practice.
Possible disciplinary actions include the following:
- License suspension, limitation, or restriction
- Probation with specific conditions
- Additional medical education or training
- Required counseling or treatment
- Administrative penalties
- Public reprimand
- Public service requirements
- Denial of renewal
- License revocation
A disciplinary order can affect a PA’s credentialing, hospital privileges, and future license applications. Depending on the order and the rules involved, the Board may later consider changing the discipline or restoring the license.
Can a PA License Revocation Be Challenged?
A physician assistant may have opportunities to challenge proposed discipline before the Board enters a final revocation order. Contested cases can proceed through the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), and a final Board decision may also support judicial review under Texas administrative law.
Bertolino LLP can represent a PA through disciplinary proceedings and evaluate whether a final Board order supports judicial review under Texas administrative law. Judicial review focuses on legal grounds for challenging agency action rather than giving the license holder a new disciplinary hearing.
A proposed order, hearing notice, or final order can start a deadline for the PA to act. Review the document right away so the physician assistant understands what the Board decided, what options remain, and when to file a response or judicial review.
When to Call a Texas Physician Assistant License Defense Attorney
A Texas physician assistant license defense attorney can become involved as soon as the Board requests records, sends notice of an investigation, schedules an informal proceeding, or raises concerns about conduct that could support disciplinary action.
A complaint becomes harder to answer when it overlaps with criminal allegations, healthcare fraud, controlled substances, or medical staff discipline. Bertolino LLP can review the records from those proceedings alongside the Board’s file and prepare a response that addresses where they connect.
What a physician assistant submits to the Board can become part of the licensing record. A response should address the Board’s concern directly, account for the supporting documents, and avoid creating inconsistencies that may draw additional questions later.
Call Bertolino LLP About a Texas PA License Investigation
The main reasons your physician assistant (PA) license can get revoked cover conduct both inside and outside clinical practice. The allegation, statutory ground, and evidence all affect what action the Board may consider.
A Texas physician assistant license defense lawyer can review the complaint, explain the Board rule or statute involved, and help prepare a response before the case progresses into formal discipline.
At Bertolino LLP, our lawyers bring over 50 years of combined experience to professional license defense in Texas. If the Texas Medical Board has contacted you about your PA license, reach out to our Client Success Liaison to discuss what comes next.
Call or text (512) 515-9518 or complete a Case Evaluation form
