How to Report a Doctor to the Texas Medical Board

You can report a doctor to the Texas Medical Board online, by mail, or by phone. The board is the state agency that licenses and disciplines physicians in Texas, and it accepts complaints from anyone: patients, family members, coworkers, or other clinicians. Filing costs nothing. Your identity as the complainant is kept confidential by law, and reporting in good faith gives you immunity from civil liability. What the board can do is discipline the doctor’s license. What it cannot do is award you money. If you want compensation for a bad outcome, that is a separate medical malpractice lawsuit in civil court, and filing a board complaint does not prevent you from pursuing one.

What the Board Can and Can’t Do for You

The Texas Medical Board is a regulatory agency, not a court. When it finds a violation of the Medical Practice Act, it can suspend or revoke a license, issue a reprimand, impose fines, restrict how the doctor practices, or order a refund to the patient as part of a disciplinary order.¹ It does not award damages for medical bills, lost income, or pain and suffering.

The board’s jurisdiction covers licensed physicians, and through affiliated sub-boards, physician assistants and acupuncturists.² If your concern involves a nurse, dentist, chiropractor, or another kind of licensee, you will need to contact that profession’s own board instead.

What Counts as a Reportable Violation

You do not have to name the statute the doctor broke. Investigators will decide whether what you describe is something the board can act on. It helps to know the general categories the Medical Practice Act treats as grounds for discipline:³

Practicing while impaired by illness, drugs, alcohol, or a mental or physical condition.
A felony conviction, or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, including deferred adjudication.
Substandard care, meaning treatment inconsistent with public health and welfare.
Unprofessional or unethical conduct, including hospital or medical staff discipline for conduct likely to harm patients.
A pattern of malpractice claims suggesting incompetence likely to injure the public.
Discipline by another state’s licensing authority for similar violations.

Breaches of medical ethics and violations of patient privacy fall within the board’s reach as well. Focus on facts you saw or experienced, not legal characterization.

How Long You Have to File

The board generally cannot act on a complaint about care provided more than seven years before the complaint is received. When the patient was a minor, that window runs to the later of the child’s 21st birthday or seven years after the care.⁴ File sooner rather than later. Records get harder to pull. Witnesses move on.

What to Gather Before You File

The stronger your complaint, the more the investigator has to work with. Have the following ready:⁵

The doctor’s full name and practice address.
A clear, specific account of what happened, when, and where.
Names and contact information for anyone who witnessed the events or knows about them.
Copies of relevant medical records, if you have them or can obtain them. Records are not required to file, but they make a real difference in standard-of-care cases.

Texas law caps what a hospital can charge you for copies of your records, with separate limits for paper and for electronic delivery, plus actual shipping costs.⁶ Individual physician offices may charge on different schedules, but you are still entitled to your records.

Write in plain language. Describe what you observed, what the doctor said and did, and what happened as a result. The investigators handle the legal framing.

How to File the Complaint

The board accepts complaints three ways:⁵

Online, through the complaint form on the TMB website. This is the fastest option.
By mail, using the downloadable PDF form sent to: Texas Medical Board, P.O. Box 2018, Austin, TX 78768.
By phone, through the Consumer Complaint Hotline at 1-800-201-9353 (toll-free within Texas), where an automated system can send you a form.²

Keep copies of everything you send. The board will confirm it received your complaint.

Whether You Can File Anonymously

You cannot. Texas does not accept anonymous complaints, so you must give the board your real name, email, and phone number, and it will verify your contact information. That said, your identity as the complainant is confidential by law, with narrow exceptions for complaints filed by insurance or pharmaceutical companies.⁵

If you are worried about being sued for reporting, the statute gives you separate protection: anyone who reports to the board in good faith is immune from civil liability for the report itself.⁷

What Happens After You File

The board follows a set process, and it will keep you updated on your complaint’s status at least quarterly.

Initial Review (First 45 Days)

Staff evaluate whether the complaint is within the board’s jurisdiction and whether the alleged conduct, if true, would violate the Medical Practice Act. They may contact you or the doctor during this phase. If the complaint does not describe conduct the board can act on, or the physician’s response shows no violation, the matter closes without a formal investigation.⁵

Formal Investigation

When the initial review identifies a potential violation, investigators collect records, interview witnesses, and build the file. Standard-of-care complaints go to the TMB’s Expert Panel, made up of physicians board-certified in the same or a similar specialty as the doctor under investigation. Most standard-of-care cases turn on that peer review.⁵

How Long It Takes

Investigations are completed on average within six months, with a board goal of finishing all investigations within one year.⁵ Cases involving multiple patients or narrow specialties can run longer.

Possible Outcomes

If the investigation supports a violation, the board can impose a range of disciplinary actions:⁸

A public reprimand entered on the doctor’s permanent record.
Practice limitations, such as barring certain procedures or requiring supervision.
Mandatory continuing education or counseling.
Probation with conditions and periodic review.
License suspension.
License revocation, which requires either a contested hearing at the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) or a voluntary surrender.
An administrative penalty paid to the state.

Many cases resolve before a formal hearing through an Informal Settlement Conference, where the doctor appears before a disciplinary panel and often agrees to an order. If the doctor contests the findings, the case goes to SOAH, where an administrative law judge hears evidence and recommends action to the board.

Temporary Suspension in Urgent Cases

When a physician’s continued practice poses a continuing threat to the public, a three-member disciplinary panel can temporarily suspend the license without prior notice. A hearing must follow within 10 days.⁹

If the Board Dismisses Your Complaint

You have one written appeal, and you must file it within 90 days of receiving the dismissal notice. Explain why you believe the dismissal was wrong and attach any supporting information. The Disciplinary Process Review Committee will consider the appeal and may let you make a statement. It can uphold the dismissal, reopen the investigation, or send the case straight to an Informal Settlement Conference.¹⁰

You get one shot. If you have evidence or details you did not include the first time, put them in the appeal.

1
State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code Chapter 164 – Disciplinary Actions
2
Texas Medical Board. About the Agency
3
State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code 164.051 – Grounds for Denial or Disciplinary Action
4
State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code 154.051 – Complaint Initiation
5
Texas Medical Board. Complaint About Licensee
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State of Texas. Texas Health and Safety Code 241.154 – Request
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State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code 160.010 – Immunity From Civil Liability
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State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code 164.001 – Disciplinary Authority of Board
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State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code 164.059 – Temporary Suspension or Restriction of License
10
Legal Information Institute. 22 Texas Administrative Code 177.12 – Appeal of Dismissal