§ 74.502.Scope of Subchapter

A threshold provision, and it keeps the machinery proportionate to the award.

The subchapter applies only to an action on a health care liability claim against a physician or health care provider in which the present value of the award of future damages, as determined by the court, equals or exceeds $100,000.

Present value, not face value. A stream of payments over decades has a face total far larger than what it is worth today, and the court determines the discounted figure.

The threshold exists because the apparatus is expensive. Ordering periodic payments requires the court to fix amounts and intervals, requires the defendant to provide evidence of financial responsibility, requires funding through an annuity or equivalent, and requires supervision until the obligation ends. On a modest award that costs more than it accomplishes.

Note that the threshold is measured on future damages alone. Past medical expenses and past lost earnings do not count toward it, however large.

The determination is the court's, which matters because it happens before any order issues — the court must value the future damages stream before deciding whether the subchapter applies at all.