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2020 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Health Professions

Barker (Chair), Saslaw, Newman, Edwards, Lewis, Dunnavant, Suetterlein

Date of Meeting: February 14, 2020
Time and Place: 8:30am Subcommittee Rm 2 5th Fl Pocahontas Bldg

H.B. 42

Patron: Samirah

Health care providers; screening of patients for prenatal and postpartum depression; training. Directs the Board of Medicine to annually issue a communication to every practitioner licensed by the Board who provides primary, maternity, obstetrical, or gynecological health care services reiterating the standard of care pertaining to prenatal or postnatal depression or other depression and encouraging practitioners to screen every patient who is pregnant or who has been pregnant within the previous five years for prenatal or postnatal depression or other depression, as clinically appropriate. The bill requires the Board to include in such communication information about the factors that may increase susceptibility of certain patients to prenatal or postnatal depression or other depression, including racial and economic disparities, and to encourage providers to remain cognizant of the increased risk of depression for such patients.

H.B. 385

Patron: Sickles

Practice of chiropractic; definition. Clarifies the definition of "practice of chiropractic" to make clear that a doctor of chiropractic may (i) request, receive, and review a patient's medical and physical history, including information related to past surgical and nonsurgical treatment of the patient and controlled substances prescribed to patients, and (ii) document in a patient's record information related to the condition and symptoms of the patient, the examination and evaluation of the patient made by the doctor of chiropractic, and the treatment provided to the patient by the doctor of chiropractic.

H.B. 552

Patron: Watts

Definition of birth control. Defines "birth control," for the purposes of the regulation of medicine, as contraceptive methods that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and provides that birth control shall not be considered abortion for the purposes of Title 18.2 (Crimes and Offenses Generally).

H.B. 687

Patron: Aird

Doulas; certification; registry. Provides that no person shall use or assume the title "state certified doula," as defined in the bill, unless such person is a community-based doula who has received training and education as a doula from an entity approved by a body approved by the Board of Health for such purpose and been certified as a doula by a body approved by the Board of Health for such purpose and that no entity shall hold itself out as providing training and education necessary to meet the requirements for certification as a doula unless its curriculum and training program has been approved by a body approved by the Board of Health for such purpose. The bill also directs the Board of Health to adopt regulations setting forth the requirements for (i) use of the title "state certified doula" and (ii) training and education necessary to satisfy the requirements for certification by the Department of Health as a state-certified doula.

H.B. 688

Patron: Aird

Community health workers; certification. Establishes requirements for use of the title "certified community health worker." This bill incorporates HB 474.

H.B. 860

Patron: Bell

Professional use by practitioners; administration of inhaled asthma medication. Provides that, pursuant to an order or standing protocol issued by the prescriber within the course of his professional practice, any school nurse, school board employee, employee of a local governing body, employee of a local health department, employee of a school for students with disabilities, or employee of an accredited private school who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of albuterol inhalers may possess or administer an albuterol inhaler to a student diagnosed with a condition requiring an albuterol inhaler when the student is believed to be experiencing or about to experience an asthmatic crisis. The bill also provides that a school nurse, employee of a school board, employee of a local governing body, or employee of a local health department who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of albuterol inhalers who provides, administers, or assists in the administration of an albuterol inhaler for a student believed in good faith to be in need of such medication, or is the prescriber of such medication, is not liable for civil damages for ordinary negligence in acts or omissions resulting from the rendering of such treatment.

H.B. 1000

Patron: Hope

Prescription drugs; expedited partner therapy; labels. Eliminates the requirement that there exist a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship with a contact patient for a practitioner to prescribe expedited partner therapy consistent with the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A pharmacist dispensing a Schedule III through VI drug to a contact whose name and address are unavailable shall affix "Expedited Partner Therapy" or "EPT" to the written prescription and the label. The bill repeals the July 1, 2020, sunset on the provision that allows practitioners employed by the Department of Health to prescribe antibiotic therapy to the sexual partner of a patient diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease without the physical examination normally required.

H.B. 1084

Patron: Hayes

Surgical assistants; licensure. Defines "surgical assistant" and "practice of surgical assisting" and directs the Board of Medicine to establish criteria for the licensure of surgical assistants. Currently, the Board may issue a registration as a surgical assistant to eligible individuals. The bill also establishes the Advisory Board on Surgical Assisting to assist the Board of Medicine regarding the establishment of qualifications for and regulation of licensed surgical assistants.

H.B. 1147

Patron: Keam

Epinephrine required in certain public places. Allows public places to make epinephrine available for administration. The bill allows employees of such public places who are authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine to possess and administer epinephrine to a person present in such public place believed in good faith to be having an anaphylactic reaction. The bill also provides that an employee of such public place who is authorized by a prescriber and trained in the administration of epinephrine and who administers or assists in the administration of epinephrine to a person present in the public place believed in good faith to be having an anaphylactic reaction, or is the prescriber of the epinephrine, shall not be liable for any civil damages for ordinary negligence in acts or omissions resulting from the rendering of such treatment.

H.B. 1174

Patron: Lopez

Professional use by practitioners; administration of inhaled asthma medication. Provides that a prescriber may authorize pursuant to a written order or standing protocol issued within the course of the prescriber's professional practice, and with the consent of the student's parents, an employee of (i) a school board, (ii) a school for students with disabilities, or (iii) an accredited private school who is trained in the administration or supervision of self-administered inhaled asthma medications to administer or supervise the self-administration of such medication to a student diagnosed with a condition requiring inhaled asthma medications when the student is believed to be experiencing or about to experience an asthmatic crisis. The bill provides that such authorization shall be effective only when a licensed nurse, nurse practitioner, physician, or physician assistant is not present to perform the administration of the medication.

H.B. 1260

Patron: Hodges

Advisory Board on Athletic Training; membership. Provides that one member of the Advisory Board on Athletic Training shall be an athletic trainer who is currently licensed by the Board on Athletic Training who has practiced in the Commonwealth for not less than three years and is employed in the public or private sector. Currently, the law requires that the member be employed in the private sector.

H.B. 1261

Patron: Hodges

Athletic trainers; naloxone or other opioid antagonist. Authorizes licensed athletic trainers to possess and administer naloxone or other opioid antagonist for overdose reversal pursuant to an oral or written order or standing protocol issued by the prescriber within the course of his professional practice.

H.B. 1332

Patron: Kilgore

Telehealth services. Directs the Board of Health to develop and implement, by July 1, 2022, and thereafter maintain as a component of the State Health Plan a Statewide Telehealth Plan to promote an integrated approach to the introduction and use of telehealth services and telemedicine services,, as those terms are defined in the bill. The bill requires the Statewide Telehealth Plan to promote (i) the use of remote patient monitoring services and store-and-forward technologies, including in cases involving patients with chronic illness; (ii) the leveraging of telehealth and telemedicine technologies to streamline general practice and nonemergency triage services; (iii) rapid patient access to emergency medicine providers through telehealth services and telemedicine services; and (iv) such other telehealth services and telemedicine services and technologies as the Board of Health deems appropriate. The bill also requires the Board of Medical Assistance Services to amend the state plan for medical assistance to include a provision for payment of medical assistance for (a) emergency medical services delivered through telehealth services or telemedicine services provided pursuant to the Statewide Telehealth Plan, in the home of the person to whom services are provided, in any public or private primary or secondary school or postsecondary institution of higher education at which the person to whom services are provided is located, and at the location where the patient received prehospital, interhospital, or emergency medical services in conjunction with appropriate emergency medical, medical, or long-term care providers included as originating sites for such telehealth services or telemedicine services and (b) medically necessary health care services provided through remote patient monitoring services for priority populations as determined by the Director of Medical Assistance Services, with the home as an eligible originating site, as permitted by state law.

H.B. 1531

Patron: Jenkins

Prescription drug disposal program; hospitals and clinics. Directs the Board of Pharmacy to enhance public awareness of proper drug disposal methods by assembling a group of stakeholders to develop strategies to increase the number of permissible drug disposal sites and options for the legal disposal of drugs. The Board is directed to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health no later than November 15, 2020.