Legislative Session number- 84

Bill Name: SF1204

4E Relating to health occupations

ARTICLE 1 - BOARD OF SOCIAL WORK

"Minnesota
Board of Social Work Practice Act", recodifying certain statutes and rules
relating to social work; defining certain terms and the scope of practice;
creating the board of social work, specifying membership requirements and
duties, authorizing board adoption and enforcement of rules; requiring and
providing for the licensing and regulation of social workers, graduate social
workers, independent social workers and independent clinical social workers by
the board, specifying certain qualification and examination requirements;
providing for licensure by reciprocity and by endorsement; specifying certain
criminal background check requirements; authorizing and providing for board
issuance of temporary licenses under certain conditions; specifying certain
exemptions from the licensure requirements; providing for license renewals;
specifying certain requirements for qualification for inactive status, providing
for reactivation; regulating voluntary license terminations and name and address
changes; requiring and providing for board issuance of license wall certificates
and license cards; specifying certain supervised practice and documentation
requirements and certain requirements of supervisors; specifying certain
continuing education and education providers approval requirements, authorizing
certain variances to the continuing education requirements; prescribing certain
license and continuing education provider fees, temporarily reducing certain
license and renewal fees; specifying certain standards of practice and certain
grounds for disciplinary action, primary professional responsibility to the
client, prohibiting personal relationships or sexual conduct, regulating
business relationships, requiring treatment and intervention services to be
based on assessments or diagnoses; specifying certain recordkeeping
requirements, providing for confidentiality; regulating the charging of fees and
billing practices; specifying certain reporting requirements; granting the board
certain investigative authority and regulating the types of actions allowed to
be taken by the board, authorizing the issuance of cease and desist orders and
providing for injunctive relief in the district court; providing for certain
voluntary actions; regulating the use of titles and specifying certain reporting
requirements; imposing a penalty for certain violations; making conforming
amendments to certain statutory provisions relating to government data, access
to health records, home care provider license and practicing medicine without a
license exemptions, the health related licensing boards, mental health practice
and medical assistance (MA) payments for mental health services, qualified
professionals under the Minnesota family investment program (MFIP) and
professional health services; repealing certain existing provisions and rules
regulating the practice of social work

ARTICLE 2 - BOARD OF PHYSICAL
THERAPY

Modifying certain provisions regulating physical therapists; defining
physical therapist assistant, physical therapy aide, student physical therapist,
student physical therapist assistant and supportive personnel; expanding
assistant and aide supervision requirements to students and student assistants;
authorizing and providing for cancellation of physical therapy licenses in good
standing by the board of physical therapy under certain conditions, credentials
under disciplinary orders and licenses for nonrenewal, fees paid to be
nonrefundable; expanding certain conditions authorizing license denial,
suspension or revocation by the board and authorizing board orders for mental or
physical examination under certain conditions, providing for access to certain
medical data and health records; authorizing board temporary suspension of
licenses without a hearing under certain serious risk of harm conditions;
repealing certain rules defining physical therapist assistant and physical
therapy aide

ARTICLE 3 - BOARD OF PSYCHOLOGY

Modifying certain provisions
providing for the licensing and regulation of psychologists; clarifying the
definition of practice of psychology and certain board of psychology membership
requirements; phasing out the licensure of psychological practitioners and
providing for conversion to licensure as psychologists; modifying certain
requirements for licensure for volunteer practice; authorizing nonresidents not
seeking state licensure to serve as organizational consultants

ARTICLE 4 -
BOARD OF DENTAL PRACTICE

Modifying certain provisions providing for the
licensure of dental occupations; establishing a renewal requirement for limited
faculty dentist licenses and extending the renewal period for full faculty
licenses; prescribing certain licensure, registration, certification and
inspection fees, prohibiting refund; authorizing dental hygienists to administer
local anesthetic agents or nitrous oxide without supervision under a
collaborative agreement with the licensed dentist

ARTICLE 5 - BOARD OF
BEHAVORIAL THERAPY AND HEALTH (LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS AND ALCOHOL AND
DRUG COUNSELORS)

Modifying certain provisions governing the licensing of
licensed professional counselors (LPC) by the board of behavioral health and
therapy; broadening certain general requirements for licensure qualification
purposes; permitting postdegree completion of certain degree requirements for
licensure under certain conditions; modifying certain continuing education
requirements; temporarily exempting certain experienced counselors from certain
degree requirements for licensing purposes; providing for certain retaliatory
actions between states; expanding the grounds for disciplinary action;
authorizing and providing for temporary suspension of licenses under certain
conditions; authorizing the board to require submission to mental, physical or
chemical dependency examinations or evaluations upon probable cause, failure to
submit to constitute an admission of the allegations, exception, granting the
board access to certain medical data and health records; providing for
assessment tool security; modifying certain duties of the commissioner of health
relating to licensure of alcohol and drug counselors and certain requirements
for licensure; defining and providing for supervised postdegree professional
practice, specifying certain supervised practice requirements for licensure;
specifying certain conditions for board issuance of licenses without examination
to certain other licensed or registered professionals and authorizing
transitional licensing of certain additional certified chemical dependency
counselors or practitioners; extending the transition period; increasing the
temporary permit fee; authorizing the board to use the expedited rulemaking
process to adopt and amend rules for conformity purposes; repealing the alcohol
and drug counselors licensing advisory council and certain examination fees and
certain rules providing for a cultural diversity committee and an education
committee

ARTICLE 6 - BOARD OF MEDICAL PRACTICE (PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS AND
RESPIRATORY CARE PRACTITIONERS)

Modifying certain provisions regulating
physician assistants and respiratory care practitioners; modifying the frequency
requirement for physician review of physician assistants, requiring outlining of
the frequency in the internal protocol; modifying certain content requirements
for prescriptions initiated by physician assistants; providing recognition of
licensed or registered out of state respiratory care practitioners for the
practice of respiratory therapy in emergency situations

ARTICLE 7 -
COMMISSIONER OF HEALTH - AUDIOLOGISTS

Modifying certain provisions regulating
audiologists as hearing aid dispensers; clarifying the definition of
audiologist, defining hearing aid and hearing aid dispensing; prohibiting
representation ad licensed hearing aid dispensers; specifying certain
audiologist examination requirements; imposing a biennial surcharge fee,
commissioner of health proration requirement; expanding grounds for disciplinary
action; increasing the membership of the speech language pathologist and
audiologist advisory council, providing for hearing instrument user
representation; specifying certain requirements relating to the dispensing of
hearing aids, specifying certain contract of sale content requirements and
requiring the provision of certain consumer rights information to potential
buyers; specifying certain restrictions on the sale of hearing instruments by
audiologists or certified dispensers, requiring a guarantee and a buyers right
to cancel; requiring itemized repair bills and regulating repair warranties,
requiring written estimates on request; reducing the number of audiologists on
the hearing instrument dispenser advisory council; making certain technical
amendments; specifying certain reference change instructions to the revisor of
statutes; repealing a certain written examination requirement exemption and
certain replaced contract requirements and sales restrictions

ARTICLE 8 -
OFFICE OF MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICES COMMITTEE

Modifying certain provisions
relating to the office of mental health practice; clarifying the definition of
unlicensed mental health practitioner, expanding the definition of mental health
services and defining mental health related licensing boards; transferring
regulatory authority over the office from the department of health to the
boards, requiring the boards to convene an office of mental health practices
committee to investigate complaints and enforce disciplinary actions and
transferring certain duties from the office to and imposing certain additional
duties on the committee, requiring a committee report to the legislature by a
certain date evaluating the activity of the office and making recommendations
relating to the regulation of unlicensed mental health practitioners; requiring
legislation to continue the office and committee beyond a certain date; delaying
the repeal of the office; specifying certain term insertion instructions to the
revisor of statutes

ARTICLE 9 - MISCELLANEOUS

Establishing penalty fees for
certain practice violations by credentialed speech language pathologists and
audiologists, occupational therapists, alcohol and drug counselors and hearing
instrument dispensers; modifying certain fee adjustment requirements of the
health and nonhealth related licensing boards, authorizing health related
licensing board anticipated expenditures in excess of anticipated revenues
through use of accumulated surplus fee revenues, prohibiting the expenditure of
more money than the amount appropriated by the legislature for a biennium;
requiring the commissioner of finance to separately track health related
licensing board revenues and expenditures in the health occupations licensing
account; appropriating money to the administrative services unit of the board of
nursing home administrators to pay for medical professional liability insurance
coverage, requiring assessment of the boards of medical practice, nursing and
dentistry apportioned amount equal to the amount expended on coverage purchased
for the providers regulated by the boards

ARTICLE 10 - EMERGENCY MEDICAL
SERVICES REGULATORY BOARD

Modifying certain ambulance service regulatory
provisions; expanding the
definition of volunteer ambulance attendant and adding
Indian tribes to the
definition of licensee, defining tribe; suspending certain
regulatory
requirements during certain emergencies; requiring completion of a
board
approved application form for certain first responder or emergency medical
technician (EMT) registration or certification purposes

ARTICLE 11 - GENERAL
HEALTH CARE PROVIDER PROVISIONS

Authorizing the division of insurance fraud
prevention in the department of commerce to consult with the appropriate health
related licensing board in suspecting licensees of insurance fraud and requiring
the division to send copies of public data relating to convictions to the
appropriate board; specifying certain health care provider cost disclosure
requirements, excepting nursing homes, hospitals and outpatient surgical
centers; authorizing and providing for health care providers to provide care to
patients at discounted payment amounts, prohibiting the discount from reducing
the payment below the medicare approved payment level, authorizing charity care,
prohibiting providers from charging uninsured persons more than health plan
companies or other insurers; requiring health related licensing boards to
establish directories of licensees; authorizing the boards to revoke, suspend,
condition, limit, restrict or qualify licenses to practice in insurance fraud
cases
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