Can CAAs practice in Texas?
Yes — CAAs practice in Texas under physician delegation.
Texas has no CAA license. CAAs practice under a physician's general authority to delegate medical acts, so employability turns on the anesthesiologist group and facility credentialing. Licensure bills, including two in 2025, have repeatedly failed.
- Legal authority
- Tex. Occ. Code ch. 157 (physician delegation authority)
- Effective
- —
- Supervision
- CAAs work under the delegation and supervision of a physician (in practice, an anesthesiologist) who determines the delegated acts and retains responsibility under Occupations Code ch. 157; no AA-specific statutory ratio exists.
- Last verified
- 2026-08-12
Notes
Long-standing delegation-practice state (with Michigan); AAAA and the Texas Academy of AAs corroborate. 2025 licensure push got the furthest yet (unanimous favorable House committee report) but died at sine die; the Legislature does not reconvene in regular session until January 2027. No effective year applies: ch. 157 is general physician delegation law, not AA-specific.
Active legislation
-
HB 5274 died — 89th Regular Session adjourned June 2, 2025
Licensing and regulation of anesthesiologist assistants; Texas Anesthesiologist Assistant Board under the Texas Medical Board
Last action: Reported favorably without amendment by House Public Health (9-0), May 12, 2025; no floor vote before sine die
-
SB 2128 died in committee — 89th Regular Session adjourned June 2, 2025
Licensing and regulation of anesthesiologist assistants (companion to HB 5274)
Last action: Referred to Senate Health & Human Services Mar 24, 2025; no further action
CAA programs in Texas
- Case Western Reserve University — Austin · Austin
- Case Western Reserve University — Houston · Houston
- UTHealth Houston — Houston · Houston
- University of Mary Hardin-Baylor — Belton · Belton