ARIZONA
TWO NEW AREAS OF UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
Two new laws approved by the Arizona Legislature during the 2006 legislative session and signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano took effect on Sept. 21. They define two new areas of unprofessional conduct for physicians and physician assistants.
The first, House Bill 2786, deals with the problem of abandoned medical records. Every year, the state agencies that regulate health care professionals receive numerous complaints regarding abandoned or unavailable medical records that can create privacy and continuation of care concerns. In response to this problem, the legislature enacted a law requiring all health care professionals to develop a written protocol for the secure storage, transfer and access of patient medical records.
The Arizona Medical Board and the Arizona Regulatory Board of Physician Assistants have modified their initial and renewal application forms to require licensees to certify that they had developed the required protocol. The law makes it an act of unprofessional conduct for a health care professional who fails to implement the required protocol.
The second new law, House Bill 2426, makes it an act of unprofessional conduct for a health care professional to request that a laboratory send its bill through the health care professional, rather than bill the patient or the payor directly. This law requires what is called “direct billing.” It does not apply to tests conducted by the health care professional or by a laboratory operated by the health care professional.
Reprinted from the Arizona Medical Board website.
CONNECTICUT
LAW REQUIRES HEALTH CARE INSTITUTIONS TO REPORT INFECTIONS BEGINNING IN 2008
In a ceremony at Greenwich Hospital in June, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed into law an Act Concerning Hospital Acquired Infections (Public Act 06-142) which establishes a mandatory statewide reporting system for health care-associated infections by health care institutions to the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) beginning in 2008.
“Simply put, people go to the hospital to get better, not to become ill by contracting new infections — infections that are proving to be fatal too often throughout the nation,” said Governor Rell. “By collecting and analyzing more information on infections and their causes, we will be able to better protect patients. While Connecticut has one of the best health care systems in the world, we must continuously strive to improve patient care through oversight, education and public reporting. Only through full and transparent reporting can we aggressively reduce these preventable infections.”
Infections contracted in hospitals are the fourth largest killer in the United States, causing as many deaths as AIDS, breast cancer and automobile accidents combined. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that annual health care-associated infections number more than two million, resulting in approximately 90,000 deaths and $4.5 billion in excess health care costs.
The new law creates an 11-member Committee on Healthcare Associated Infections that will be responsible for developing, operating and monitoring a mandatory reporting system for health care-associated infections in conjunction with DPH. The committee is also responsible for recommending to DPH methods and programs aimed at reducing the spread of infections, particularly in health care settings.
The committee will provide an initial report to DPH by Oct. 1, 2007, detailing the appropriate standardized reporting measures and recommending processes designed to prevent infections. Public reporting of health care-associated infections in Connecticut will begin in October 2008 and continue annually thereafter. Members of the committee, as appointed by DPH Commissioner J. Robert Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., will come from the hospital and public health communities, as well as the public at large.
“Working with this new committee and with the health care institutions of Connecticut, we can surpass the high quality of health care that the residents of our state have come to expect,” said Commissioner Galvin.
A health care-associated infection is defined as any localized or systemic condition resulting in an adverse reaction to the presence of an infectious agent (or its toxin) in a patient, occurring in a health care setting, and which was not present or incubating prior to the patient’s admission.
Reprinted from the Connecticut Medical Examining Board website.
WEST VIRGINIA
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Engrossed Senate Bill 463 became effective in March 2006. This law amends the requirements for physician and podiatric licensure in West Virginia by declaring the Virginia Board of Medicine may not issue a license to a person whose license has been revoked or suspended in another state until the reinstatement of the license in that state. Also, the requirements for medical licensure are modified. Now the board may not only extend the period of seven consecutive years for passage of all components of the USMLE for up to three additional years for any medical student enrolled in a dual M.D.-Ph.D. program, but also for a medical student participating in an accredited fellowship training.
Finally, a special provision in the law, which previously expired, has been revived until July 1, 2007. A license applicant who does not meet the requirements for medical or podiatric licensure, under extraordinary circumstances may be granted a license under several conditions. First, the board must find that the applicant’s exceptional education, training, and practice credentials are substantially equivalent to West Virginia medical licensure requirements. Secondly, the license granted under such extraordinary circumstances must be approved by three-fourths of the board members. Third, orders denying such license applications are not appealable, and the board must report to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Delegates all decisions made pursuant to this section and the reasons therefore.
Reprinted from Vol. 10, Issue 2, of the West Virginia Board of Medicine Quarterly Newsletter, published by the West Virginia Board of Medicine.
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