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Professions and Occupations

P Passed

P HB1588

Medicine and healing arts; auricular acupuncture. Clarifies that acupuncture detoxification specialists who are certified by the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association or an equivalent certifying body, and who are currently exempt from licensure when they are supervised by a National Acupuncture Detoxification Association certified licensed physician acupuncturist or licensed acupuncturist, may perform auricular acupuncture in the context of a chemical dependency treatment program for patients eligible for federal, state or local public funds.
Patron - Van Yahres

P HB1591

Professions and occupations; pawnbrokers. Authorizes pawnbrokers to maintain required records electronically. Upon request by a law-enforcement official, pawnbrokers are required to make such electronic records available. The bill also allows a pawnbroker to charge a service fee for making daily electronic reports to law-enforcement officials and further provides that the fee shall not exceed five percent of the amount loaned or three dollars, whichever is less. Under the bill, violation of the service fee provisions shall constitute a Class 4 misdemeanor. The Department of State Police is directed to regulations for the uniform reporting of required information.
Patron - Callahan

P HB1689

Health Professions; unprofessional conduct. Removes from the Board of Medicine the vestiges of control of unprofessional conduct of physical therapists and physical therapy assistants. When the Board of Physical Therapy was constituted in the 2000 Session, this language was transferred to the new Board but inadvertently left in the provisions of the Board of Medicine.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB1694

Health professions; medical assistants. Revises the authority of licensed or certified practitioners of the healing arts to delegate to supervised employees those nondiscretionary activities and functions that do not require the exercise of professional judgment for their performance and are usually or customarily delegated to other persons by practitioners of the healing arts, if the relevant practitioner of the healing arts is authorized to perform the delegated duties and assumes responsibility for such activities or functions. This bill removes the requirement that the unregulated person be employed by a professional licensed or certified by the Board of Medicine; the requirement that the unregulated person be supervised by the responsible licensed or certified professional remains. This bill is identical to SB 849.
Patron - Abbitt

P HB1696

Attorney's lien for fees. Provides that any person having or claiming a cause of action for annulment or divorce may contract with any attorney for legal services and that the attorney shall have a lien upon the cause of action as security for his fees for any services rendered in relation to the cause of action. The attorney's claim may not be exercised until the divorce judgment is final and the court may exclude spousal and child support from the lien.
Patron - Cranwell

P HB1722

Health professions; continuing education for physical therapists. Requires, as a prerequisite to license renewal or reinstatement, that all licensed physical therapists complete biennial continuing education courses as approved by the Board. The Board must prescribe criteria for approving the courses and credit hour requirements. The Board is authorized to approve alternative courses upon timely application of any licensee. These education requirements must be certified to the Board and must be submitted by each physical therapist at the time he applies for renewal or reinstatement of the license.
Patron - Purkey

P HB1778

Health professions; certified nurse aides. Requires the Board of Nursing to develop and promulgate regulations to establish a career advancement certification for certified nurse aides that will indicate enhanced competence in patient care tasks and enable certified nurse aides to expand the scope of the responsibilities and duties delegated to them. Upon successful completion of required educational and training standards, an advanced certificate will be awarded. The programs will have to be approved by the Board. An advanced certificate must be renewed biennially upon payment of the specified fee and submission of proof of compliance with the Board's requirements.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB1826

Pharmacy. Sets forth the definitions, restrictions, and requirements for registration of pharmacy technicians. This bill distinguishes between pharmacy interns and pharmacy technicians and clarifies the duties that may be performed only by a pharmacist or a pharmacy intern while engaged in obtaining the practical experience required for licensure as a pharmacist. "Supervision" is defined as the direction and control by a pharmacist who is physically present in the pharmacy or in the facility in which the pharmacy is located and available for immediate oral communication regarding the activities of a pharmacy intern or a pharmacy technician. Pharmacists are authorized to determine the maximum number of pharmacy technicians to supervise; however, no pharmacist can supervise more than four pharmacy technicians at one time. A second enactment provides a modified grandfather clause by not requiring registration of pharmacy technicians until six months after the effective date of the Board of Pharmacy's final regulations. The Board must adopt final regulations for the registration of pharmacy technicians by July 1, 2003.
Patron - Morgan

P HB2093

Drug Control Act; registration certificates. Adds optometrists and nurses to the list of practitioners who may have prescriptive authority and, thus, are not required to obtain a controlled substances registration certificate for the manufacture, distribution or dispensing of drugs. Persons such as medical researchers who may use controlled substances in their work and are not otherwise authorized to prescribe, manufacture, distribute or dispense must still obtain controlled substances registration certificates.
Patron - Devolites

P HB2095

Health professions; substance abuse counseling assistants. Provides for an additional category of certification for substance abuse counseling assistants and delineates the difference in the scope of duties between a substance abuse counselor and a substance abuse counseling assistant. The bill also recognizes the name change of one of the nationally recognized associations from the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors to NAADAC: the Association for Addiction Professionals. The bill adds "certified substance abuse counseling assistant" to the list of individuals who may render services and receive reimbursement from insurance. The bill also provides for the continued certification of those persons who were certified prior to July 1, 2001, or who had registered their supervisory contracts or filed applications for certification with the Board prior to that date. Also, the bill provides that any application for certification filed after July 1, 2001, but before the effective date of the new regulations, for a person who meets the requirements in effect prior to July 1, 2001, shall be operative until the new regulations are in effect, when such person shall be deemed certified at the appropriate level under the new regulations. Additionally, this bill directs the Board to approve as a supervisor for individuals seeking certification as a counselor or assistant any person who has been approved prior to July 1, 2001.
Patron - Devolites

P HB2139

Health professions; regulation of clinical psychologists. Clarifies that the Board of Psychology has the power to set licensure standards for clinical psychologists and removes the clinical psychologist from the Board of Medicine. Formerly, clinical psychologists were regulated by the Board of Medicine. The physician members of the Board of Medicine are appointed from each congressional district; the Board also includes one osteopathic physician, one podiatrist, one chiropractor, and two citizen members. This bill also increases the Board's membership by two citizen members and notes that no two citizen members can reside in the same congressional district.
Patron - Broman

P HB2142

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and the Department of Health Professions; authority to recover civil penalties for certain violations. Authorizes the Departments of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) and the Department of Health Professions (DHP) to enforce the licensure and regulatory provisions of Title 54.1 through inistituting proceeds in general district courts or circuit courts to recover civil penalties. The bill provides that the civil penalty must be at least $200 but no more than $1,000 per violation, with each unlawful act constituting a separate violation; but in no event can the civil penalties against any one person, partnership, corporation or other entity exceed $10,000 per year.
Patron - Drake

P HB2153

Health professions; data required. Requires physicians of medicine or osteopathy and all podiatrists to report any convictions for felonies to the Board of Medicine for inclusion in the health care data available to consumers upon request. The data required currently includes any disciplinary action by the Board against the practitioner as well as any paid claims or settlements. All practitioners of medicine, osteopathy and all podiatrists are required to report.
Patron - Rhodes

P HB2174

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; residential home inspectors. Provides for the voluntary certification of residential home inspectors by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation through the Board for Asbestos, Lead and Home Inspectors. Under the bill, no person may provide a certified home inspection or hold himself out as a, or use the title of, "certified home inspector" unless certified by the Board.
Patron - McClure

P HB2245

Practice of nursing. Exempts, for no more than 90 days from the date of approval of an application submitted to the Board, any nurse who is a graduate of a foreign nursing school and has met the credential, language, and academic testing requirements of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools when such nurse is working as a nonsupervisory staff nurse in a licensed nursing home or certified nursing facility. During such ninety-day period, such nurse must take and pass the licensing examination to remain eligible to practice nursing in Virginia; no exemption granted under this subdivision can be extended. A second enactment requires the Board of Nursing to promulgate emergency regulations. This bill is identical to SB 892.
Patron - Day

P HB2318

Prescriptive authority of physician assistants. Expands the prescriptive authority of physician assistants, as follows: Schedules V and VI controlled substances on and after July 1, 2001; and Schedules IV through VI on and after January 1, 2003. Currently, physician assistants' prescriptive authority is limited to Schedule VI drugs. The bill also removes the Board of Medicine's responsibility for developing a formulary for the specific drugs that physician assistants are allowed to prescribe and requires the supervising physician or podiatrist to develop a written agreement with each physician assistant under his supervision listing the controlled substances the physician assistant is or is not authorized to prescribe. In addition to the requirement for periodic site visits by physicians or podiatrists who supervise physician assistants that is currently in the law, the regulations of the Board of Medicine will include requirements for continued physician assistant competency, e.g., continuing education, testing, and any other requirement. The regulations must also address the need to promote ethical practice, an appropriate standard of care, patient safety, the use of new pharmaceuticals, and appropriate communication with patients. A second enactment clause requires the Joint Commission on Health Care, with the full cooperation of the Medical Society of Virginia, the Old Dominion Medical Society, the Board of Medicine, the Board of Pharmacy, and physician assistant associations, to study physician assistant prescriptive authority as provided in this act to determine the impact of the authority to prescribe Schedules IV through VI controlled substances and devices on patient care, provider relationships, third-party reimbursement, physician practices, and patient satisfaction with physician assistant treatment. A preliminary report will be submitted to the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions by July 1, 2004, and a final report will be provided to the Governor and the 2005 General Assembly.
Patron - Jones, S.C.

P HB2397

Enforcement, etc., of costs imposed by the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board. Allows orders of the Board regarding unpaid costs to be recorded, enforced, and satisfied as judgments.
Patron - Tata

P HB2430

Board of Nursing Home Administrators. Revises the membership of the seven-member Board of Nursing Home Administrators by increasing the number of nursing home administrators from three to four, reducing the number of members who are from professions and institutions concerned with the care and treatment of chronically ill and elderly patients from four to two, and adding one member who is a resident of a nursing home or a family member of a resident of a nursing home. Appointments to the Board are made by the Governor for four-year terms.
Patron - Orrock

P HB2516

Department of Health Professions; athletic trainers. Clarifies the qualifications for membership on the Advisory Board on Athletic Training and the exceptions from certification as an athletic trainer.
Patron - Reid

P HB2718

Virginia State Bar; eligibility to sit for bar examination. Provides that an applicant who has successfully completed all requirements for a degree from the Potomac School of Law in the District of Columbia, was enrolled and attended classes at the Potomac School of Law during or prior to the 1977 fall term, was a resident of Virginia at the time of application for admission to the Potomac School of Law, has passed the bar examination in another state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia, which examination included the national multi-state examination, and has been admitted to practice before the court of last resort in any other state or territory of the United States or the District of Columbia is eligible to sit for the Virginia bar examination.
Patron - McClure

P HB2757

Board for Accountancy; educational requirements for CPA certificate. Corrects the name of the National Business College of Virginia to the National College of Business and Technology.
Patron - Thomas

P SB806

Practice of dentristry. Defines "dentistry," according to current ADA definitions, as the evaluation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment, through surgical, nonsurgical, or related procedures, of diseases, disorders, and conditions of the oral cavity and the maxillofacial, adjacent and associated structures, and their impact on the human body. The Board of Dentistry, with the assistance and advice of an advisory committee comprised of three members selected by the Medical Society of Virginia and three members selected by the Virginia Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, is directed to promulgate regulations establishing criteria for certification of oral and maxillofacial surgeons to perform certain procedures within the definition of dentistry that are not for the prevention and treatment of disorders, diseases, lesions and malpositions of the human teeth, alveolar process, maxilla, mandible, or adjacent tissues, or any necessary related procedures or are not provided incident to a head or facial trauma sustained by the patient. The Board's regulations must address patient safety; identification and categorization of approved procedures; and application process for certification to perform such procedures; and the minimum education, training, and experience for such certification. The Board is directed to take due consideration of the education, training, and experience requirements adopted by the American Dental Association Council on Dental Education or the Commission on Dental Accreditation and to require review of all complaints arising out of performance of the defined procedures jointly by a physician and an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Receipt of reports of complaints by the Board of Dentistry against oral and maxillofacial surgeons shall be shared with the Board of Medicine which shall maintain the confidentiality of such complaint. The bill also adds to the criteria for disciplinary actions, practicing outside the scope of the dentist's or dental hygienist's education, training and experience and the performance of a procedure that is subject to certification without such certification. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons must also register annually with the Board of Dentistry and submit certain information, similar to that required of physicians, that is subject to consumer review. Enactment clauses delay the effective date of the certification until 60 days after the effective date of the board's regulations to implement these requirements and such regulations will become effective within 280 days of enactment.
Patron - Barry

P SB849

P SB892

Practice of nursing. Exempts, for no more than 90 days from the date of approval of an application submitted to the Board, any nurse who is a graduate of a foreign nursing school and has met the credential, language, and academic testing requirements of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools when such nurse is working as a nonsupervisory staff nurse in a licensed nursing home or certified nursing facility. During such 90 period, such nurse must take and pass the licensing examination to remain eligible to practice nursing in Virginia; no exemption granted under this subdivision can be extended. A second enactment requires the Board of Nursing to promulgate emergency regulations. This bill is identical to HB 2245.
Patron - Reynolds

P SB1059

Health professions; regulation of clinical psychologists. Clarifies that the Board of Psychology has the power to set licensure standards for clinical psychologists and removes the clinical psychologist from the Board of Medicine. Formerly, clinical psychologists were regulated by the Board of Medicine after being licensed by the Board of Psychology. The physician members of the Board of Medicine are appointed from each congressional district; the Board also includes one osteopathic physician, one podiatrist, one chiropractor, and two citizen members. This bill also increases the Board's membership by two citizen members and notes that no two citizen members can reside in the same congressional district.
Patron - Quayle

P SB1290

Board of Nursing Home Administrators. Revises the membership of the Board to include one resident of a nursing home or a family member of a resident of a nursing home by reducing the number of members who are from professions and institutions concerned with the care and treatment of chronically ill and elderly patients from four to two and also increasing to four those members who are licensed nursing home administrators. Appointments to the Board are made by the Governor for four-year terms.
Patron - Mims

P SB1367

Physical therapy. Provides limited direct access to physical therapy. This bill authorizes physical therapists who have actively practiced upon the referral and direction of a licensed doctor of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, podiatry or dental surgery for three years, to treat a patient for 14 days without referral if the patient has previously been referred for physical therapy within two years, the physical therapy is being provided for the same injury, disease or condition as indicated in the referral, and the physical therapist notifies the practitioner identified by the patient no later than three days after treatment begins. Treatment for more than 14 days will require a referral. Other limited exceptions are provided for a one-time evaluation of a patient who has not been referred, services provided to student athletes during a game or other athletic activity, employees for evaluation and consultation related to workplace ergonomics, special education students whose individualized education plans indicate a need for physical therapy, the public for wellness, fitness, and health screenings, the public for the purpose of health promotion and education, and the public for the purpose of prevention of impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities. This bill also clarifies the definition of "practice of physical therapy" and notes that this practice does not include medical diagnosis of disease or injury or use of invasive procedures. The physical therapist is also required to immediately refer any patient whose medical condition is determined to be beyond the physical therapist's scope of practice. Technical amendments are made to the Board of Medicine's and the Board of Physical Therapy's statutes to correct some inadvertent errors made when the Board of Physical Therapy was established last year. In addition, the Board is required to establish requirements to ensure continuing competency and to promulgate, pursuant to a second enactment clause, emergency regulations.
Patron - Saslaw

F Failed

F HB1565

Cemetery Board; preneed trust deposits. Requires 90 percent of the receipts from the sale of property or services purchased under a preneed burial contract to be placed in a preneed trust account. Current law requires 40 percent of such proceeds to be placed in a preneed trust account.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB1709

Department of Professions and Occupations; Board for Foresters. Creates the Board for Foresters in the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. The nine-member Board shall consists of seven foresters and two citizens. Under the bill, individuals are required to be licensed by the Board to practice forestry or forest management. Forestry is defined as a profession embracing the science, art and practice of creating, managing, using and conserving forests and associated resources for human benefit and in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values. Forest management is defined as the practical application of biological, physical, quantitative, managerial, economic, social, and policy principles to the regeneration, management, utilization and conservation of forests to meet specified goals and objectives while maintaining the productivity of the forest. Forest management includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban values, water, wilderness, wildlife, wood products and other forest resource values.
Patron - Deeds

F HB1813

Attorneys; lien for fee. Gives an attorney-at-law a lien for his fee in an annulment or divorce case.
Patron - Cranwell

F HB2099

Department of Health Professions; Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers; licensure of funeral establishments. Increases from 86 to 140 the number of funerals per year for which the Board may grant a hardship waiver from the requirement for a full-time manager licensed for the practice of funeral service or licensed as a funeral director, allowing the operation of two funeral establishments having in charge one full-time person licensed for the practice of funeral service or one licensed funeral director who divides his time between the two funeral establishments.
Patron - Abbitt

F HB2100

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; Board for Contractors; licensure of arborist. Requires the licensure of arborists by the Board for Contractors as of July 1, 2002. Arborist is defined as an individual who engages in, or offers to engage in, work for the general public for compensation in work involving the application of arboricultural sciences to the care of trees including the removal of a tree or a portion of a tree, taking measures to prolong the life of a tree, and taking measures to enhance the aesthetic value of a tree. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2002.
Patron - Hull

F HB2118

Health professions; what constitutes practice. Requires board certification or completion of fellowship training in order for a practitioner to hold himself out as specializing in an area of practice.
Patron - DeBoer

F HB2238

Health professions; temporary licenses for nurses. Authorizes the Board of Nursing to issue a one-time, six-month temporary license to an applicant who has graduated from a nursing education program in a foreign country and who has met the credential, language, and testing requirements of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools Qualifying Examination and who is awaiting the completion and final passage of the state licensing exam. The temporary licensee would be limited to work as a staff nurse in a nonsupervisory position in a long-term health care facility.
Patron - Day

F HB2320

Health professions; surgical assistants. Defines a "certified surgical assistant" and "intraoperative surgical care" and requires the Board of Medicine to establish a procedure for the certification of such individuals who meet the requirements established by the Board. Surgical assistants are certified individuals who provide such services, under the direction of a physician or registered nurse, as positioning and draping the patient, observing the operative site, assisting in incision closing or wound dressing, and any other task that may be delegated by the licensee that is within the scope of practice of a certified surgical assistant.
Patron - Jones, S.C.

F HB2399

Prescriptions. Clarifies that electronically transmitted prescriptions will be valid original prescriptions and deemed to be signed by the prescriber and to be written prescriptions when in compliance with the Board of Pharmacy's regulations. Oral prescriptions can be transmitted to the pharmacy by electronic means. The Board is required to promulgate regulations for electronically transmitted prescriptions, e.g., by fax or e-mail. Faxed or e-mailed prescriptions are already specifically authorized and used for certain types of practitioners, such as home-infusion pharmacies and long-term care pharmacies.
Patron - Tata

F HB2431

Proof of education required of bar examination applicants. Allows an applicant for the bar examination to take the examination if he graduated from a non-accredited law school that has since become accredited if he has been a practicing attorney in another jurisdiction for at least five years.
Patron - Howell

F HB2782

Health professions; dispensing of emergency contraceptives. Establishes procedures by which prescribers, in accordance with a protocol developed by the Board of Medicine, may authorize licensed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives to women, including women who are not the prescriber's patients, when a practitioner with prescriptive authority is not physically present. Pharmacists may dispense such emergency contraception according to regulations adopted by the Board of Pharmacy. This provision is similar to current law that allows a practitioner to permit pharmacies to dispense immunizations even to persons who are not patients of the physician who initiates the authorization. The bill also provides that nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians may dispense emergency contraceptives at any time according to procedures developed by the Board of Medicine. The bill also contains technical amendments.
Patron - Baskerville

F HB2785

Health professions; citizen board members. Expands the definition of "citizen member" of regulatory boards to specify that retired professionals may serve on boards in the citizen slot. Current law confines citizen members to those who (i) are not by training or practice a practitioner of the profession, (ii) have no immediate familial relationship with a practitioner, and (iii) have no direct or indirect financial interest in the practice of such profession, except as consumers.
Patron - Katzen

F HB2804

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation; regulation of athlete agents; penalty. Provides for the licensure athlete agents by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation and provides for penalties for violation.
Patron - Jones, J.C.

F HB2825

Board for Contractors; necessity for licensure for electrical tradesman. Exempts an individual certified by the Board of Coal Mining Examiners as electrical maintenance repairman, electrical repairman or chief electrician from the examination requirement for a tradesman license.
Patron - Stump

F SB1208

Department of Health Professions; unlawful practice of physical therapy or physical therapist assistance. Authorizes a licensed physician assistant acting under the supervision of a licensed physician to make a physical therapy referral.
Patron - Forbes

F SB1237

Real Estate Board; certain referral fees prohibits. Provides that certain unearned referral fees shall not be solicited or requested of any real estate licensee and gives such licensee a cause of action to recover $500 in damages for violation.
Patron - Barry

F SB1371

Typed, preprinted, and electronically printed prescriptions. Requires the Board of Pharmacy to promulgate regulations requiring practicing prescribers who are authorized to prescribe controlled substances to issue written prescriptions that have been typed, preprinted, or electronically printed, and signed by the prescriber to ensure accuracy in compounding, processing, dispensing, or the disposal of drugs and devices. The written prescriptions must comply with the provisions of subsection A of § 32.1-87 and subsection B of §54.1-3408.01, which establish a prescription blank format accommodating the Virginia Voluntary Formulary. The provisions of this bill do not affect the exception for dispensing a controlled substance pursuant to out-of-state prescriptions, or the issuance of oral prescriptions and standing protocols, or the transmission of written prescriptions by electronic communications, as provided by law.
Patron - Reynolds

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2001 SUMMARY HOME | DLS | GENERAL ASSEMBLY