Legislative soup, rule-making salad. Lawmakers and state agencies serve up 5.01(a) rules

One response to tremendous changes in the health-care industry has been the formation of more and more physician/hospital organizations (PHOs). One kind of PHO has grown rapidly in Texas. Commonly referred to simply as the 5.01(a)--its section number in the Medical Practice Act of Texas that describes how it is formed and what it can do--the number of these nonprofit health-care corporations has more than quadrupled in Texas in the past 5 years, increasing from 36 in 1990 to 160 in 1995.