For the purposes of this chapter:

1. (1) "Health care liability claim" means a cause of action against a licensee for treatment, lack of treatment, or other claimed departure from accepted standards of medical or health care or safety that proximately results in injury to or death of a patient, whether the patient's claim or cause of action sounds in tort or contract.
2. (2) "Complaint" means a petition or complaint filed as a lawsuit on a health care liability claim.

3. (3) "Settlement" means:

   1. (A) a payment made by or on behalf of a licensee on a health care liability claim on which no lawsuit has been filed;
   2. (B) an agreement to settle a lawsuit on a health care liability claim for a specified amount to be paid by or on behalf of a licensee;
   3. (C) a dismissal or non-suit of a lawsuit on a health care liability claim with no payment; and
   4. (D) a final judgment in a lawsuit on a health care liability claim entered by the trial court.
4. (4) "Insurer" means any entity that provides health care liability coverage to a licensee and is not limited to insurance companies that are regulated by the Texas Department of Insurance.
5. (5) "Nonadmitted insurer" means an insurance company that is not admitted to do business in Texas, does business on a surplus lines basis, and is not otherwise subject to regulation by the Texas Department of Insurance.
6. (6) "Physician" means any person licensed to practice medicine in this state, including interns, residents, physicians acting as supervising physicians, on-call physicians, consulting physicians, and physicians who administer, read, or interpret laboratory tests, ex-rays, and other diagnostic studies.

Source Note:The provisions of this §176.1 adopted to be effective January 8, 2004, 29 TexReg 97.