(a) The Board shall establish a pilot program review panel to evaluate and make recommendations to the Board. The Board may solicit recommendations from an advisory committee or others on topics for patient safety pilot programs, on priorities of those programs, and on the administration of the application and review process.
(b) The Executive Director shall screen applications and proposals to determine if they meet the criteria of sections 226.3 and 226.4. The Executive Director shall forward qualified applications and proposals to the pilot program review panel for evaluation within 30 days of the closing date of the Request for Proposal or receipt of an application. Eliminated applicants shall be so notified by the Board.
(c) The Board shall select individuals qualified in the patient safety pilot program topic areas to serve on the review panel based on the content of proposals submitted. Individuals who serve on the review panel shall demonstrate appropriate credentials to evaluate patient safety pilot program applications. At a minimum, there will be one panel member from each of the following areas: a registered nurse, a doctoral level researcher, a human factors expert, and a consumer representative. Review panel members shall not evaluate any applications or proposals for which they have a conflict of interest. Review panel members serve without compensation at the discretion of the Board.
(d) The Board shall use the pilot program review panel to evaluate the quality of applications and proposals based on the sections 226.3 and 226.4 listed above. The pilot program review panel shall evaluate applications and proposals, and assign scores based on the sections 226.3 and 226.4 as listed above. All evaluations and scores of the review panel are final.
(e) The Executive Director shall use the review scores to recommend a prioritized list of applications and proposals to the Board for consideration. The decision-making process of the Board shall give weight to scores and must provide a statement of explanation if the Board does not agree with the peer review recommendations.
(f) Not withstanding any provision stated herein, no patient safety pilot program will be approved by the Board if it does not provide consumers adequate protection from registered nurses whose continued practice is a threat to public safety.

Source Note: The provisions of this §226.5 adopted to be effective December 29, 2003, 28 TexReg 11587