Professions and Occupations Passed HB6 Funeral establishments. Eliminates the July 1, 2000, sunset on the hardship provision for an operator of two establishments which allows the Board to waive the requirement of having a licensed funeral director at each establishment. Patron - Abbitt HB16 State Bar examination. Requires bar exam applicants to mail their applications postage prepaid by registered or certified mail to the Secretary of the Board of Bar Examiners and that the applications be mailed or otherwise filed by May 10 for the July exam and December 15 for the February exam. Patron - Mims HB384 Attorneys. Allows persons who read for the bar to complete their required three years of study with a retired circuit court judge who served as a judge for at least 10 years and who has not been retired for more than five years at the time that the law reading program commences. The bill also defines the annual minimum requirements for the law reading program to be 40 weeks of at least 18 hours per week for each of the required three years. Patron - Joannou HB388 Licensure of hospitals. Requires hospitals to notify the community services board of the jurisdiction in which the woman resides to appoint a discharge plan manager for any identified substance-abusing postpartum woman. The community services board must implement and manage the discharge plan. Hospitals are already required, as a condition of licensure, to develop these discharge plans. Patron - Van Landingham HB446 Procedure for revocation of attorney's license to practice law. Amends the procedure for attorney license revocation to require the use of the same procedures adopted by the Supreme Court for lawyer discipline. The bill also expands sanctions available to the court hearing the revocation matter to include those available to the Disciplinary Board and establishes a definitive process for appeal of the court's decision. Under current law and this bill, when an attorney's license is revoked, upon appeal, his privilege to practice is suspended. This bill allows the Supreme Court to stay an order of suspension and requires that an order of reprimand be stayed. Patron - Almand HB631 Emergency Medical Services Do Not Resuscitate Orders. Authorizes the issuance of a Do Not Resuscitate Order by an attending physician for patients who, because of bona fide religious convictions, do not wish to receive medical interventions for cardiac or respiratory arrest. Patron - Rhodes HB769 Professions and occupations; pawnbrokers. Increases the penalty for unlicensed activity to a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill also provides that a license shall not be issued to a person who has been convicted of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude within the preceding 10 years and requires the pawnbroker to maintain a bond in the amount of $50,000. The bill also allows pawnbrokers to sell pawned or pledged items in the ordinary course of business. Currently, the law requires such sales to be done through public auction by a licensed auctioneer. The bill also deletes current requirements regarding notice of sale and requires the record of each transaction kept by the pawnbrokers to itemize all fees charged. Patron - Callahan HB809 Board for Contractors: unlicensed activity. Increases the fine for unlicensed activity from a maximum of $200 per day to an amount not to exceed $500 per day of violation. Patron - Woodrum HB843 Do Not Resuscitate Orders. Revises the present Emergency Medical Services Do Not Resuscitate Order section to become a general Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR) provision. The DNR Order must be issued by an attending physician in writing for a patient who is terminal or for whom he has otherwise written such DNR Order and must be consented to by the patient or a person who is authorized to consent for the patient. The Board of Health will continue to designate which emergency medical services personnel may follow these orders in the prehospital setting. Emergency medical services personnel are not authorized to withhold comfort care or alleviation of pain. The DNR Order will follow the patient, i.e., the DNR Order may be followed in the prehospital setting, hospital, nursing home, or other institution. A new order may be issued, with the consent of the patient or his authorized decision-maker, upon the revocation of a DNR. Definitions and exception statutes are amended to be consistent. The liability statute is also amended to clarify that any person consenting to or issuing a DNR will be accorded the same immunity protections as those acting in compliance with the advance directive or DNR. This bill is identical to SB 630. Patron - Orrock HB857 Practice of surgery. Revises the provisions relating to the practice of interns and residents. This bill clarifies that (i) medical schools as well as hospitals and other organizations may employee interns and residents holding temporary licenses, (ii) the training received by interns and residents must be consistent with the requirements of the national accrediting agencies and the policies and procedures of the hospital, medical school or other organization operating a graduate medical education program, and (iii) interns and residents are only authorized to serve in the graduate medical education program while holding a temporary license for the length of the program. This bill requires the Board of Medicine to adopt guidelines concerning the ethical practice of surgeons and surgery interns and residents in hospitals or other organizations operating graduate medical education programs. These guidelines are not standards of care or regulations and are exempt from the requirements of the Administrative Process Act. The medical schools are required to cooperate with the Board in the development of the guidelines. The guidelines must include, but need not be limited to, matters relating to (i) obtaining informed consent, after the patient has been informed who will perform the surgery; (ii) the need, consistent with the informed consent, for the surgeon to be present during the procedure, except in emergencies and other unavoidable situations; and (iii) policies to avoid situations, unless the circumstances fall within an exception in the Board's guidelines or the policies of the relevant hospital, medical school or other organization, in which a surgeon, intern or resident represents that he will perform a procedure which he then fails to perform. The Board is also required to publish and distribute the guidelines. This bill relates to "ghost surgery." Patron - Rhodes HB858 Visually handicapped. Changes the name of the Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind to the Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to bring it into conformance with the name of the Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired and with the mission of the Center. Patron - Rhodes HB928 Board for Contractors; definitions, exemptions, Class C licenses. Deletes "owner-developer" from definitions and replaces it as an exemption to the licensing requirements. Currently, an owner-developer includes any person who performs or supervises construction, removal, repair or improvements when either the total value of the improvements on any single parcel is $70,000 or more or the total value of all such improvements in a 12-month period is $500,000 or more, but excludes (a) a person who performs or supervises the construction, removal, repair or improvement of (i) not more than one building upon his own real estate and for his own use during a 24-month period, (ii) a house on his own real property as a bona fide gift to an immediate family member, or (iii) industrial or manufacturing facilities for his own use, and (b) any person who contracts with a duly licensed Class A building contractor to perform the work. Categories (i), (ii) and (iii) from the current definition of "owner-developer" are added to the other exemptions from licensure. The bill authorizes the Board to issue Class C licenses to electrical, plumbing and HVAC contractors. Currently, the statute provides for issuing Class C licenses to only building, highway/heavy and specialty contractors. There are technical amendments in this bill. Patron - Nixon HB973 Real Estate Board; exemptions. Clarifies the exemption from licensure for salaried employees of real estate licensees. Patron - Purkey HB994 Real Estate Board; exemptions from licensure. Clarifies the exemption from licensure for any person acting without compensation as an attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney. Patron - Bloxom HB1023 Health; volunteer dentists and dental hygienists. Requires the sponsorship of a licensed dentist for a volunteer dentist to be able to qualify to receive a restricted license to practice in free clinics in the state and expands patient eligibility for treatment at such clinics. The bill provides that the supervising dentist no longer has to be on the premises during treatment by such volunteer dentist but must review the quality of care provided by him at least every 30 days. The bill also provides that all disciplinary regulations which apply to dentists also apply to volunteer dentists. The same basic provisions are applied to dental hygienists with the exception of the sponsorship clause. Patron - Grayson HB1055 Health professions; nursing. Adds to the definition of professional nursing the ability for professional nurses to delegate selected nursing tasks and procedures to appropriately trained unlicensed persons as provided by regulations promulgated by the Board of Nursing. Patron - McDonnell HB1077 Department of Professions and Occupations; Cemetery Board. Creates the Cemetery Board at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation for the regulation of certain cemeteries, preneed burials contracts, and perpetual care trust accounts. The bill transfers control of preneed burial contract and the administration of perpetual care trusts from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to this newly created board. The bill also contains technical amendments. Patron - Reid HB1078 Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers; cremation. Adds "the marketing and providing of cremation services" to the definition of the "practice of funeral services," and shifts regulatory control of the operation of crematories from the Commissioner of Health to the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers. Patron - Reid HB1101 Prescription dispensing record disclosure. Defines patient-identifying prescription information and allows providers to disclose records, aggregate, or other data from which patient-identifying information has been removed, to qualified researchers, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and their agents, for purposes of clinical, pharmaco-epidemiological or pharmaco-economic research. This bill also clarifies that any limitation on the patient's ability to obtain his own record by reason of his treating physician placing a written statement in his record must be based on the physician's opinion that the furnishing to or review by the patient of such records would cause actual harm to the patient's physical or mental health or cause the patient to be an imminent danger to himself or others. Patron - Jones, S.C. HB1102 Board of Pharmacy. Extends to optometrists an exception to the pharmacy laws which currently allows physicians and podiatrists, but not optometrists, to purchase, possess or administer controlled substances to and on behalf of their own patients, to provide manufacturers' professional samples to their patients. Qualified optometrists would be those individuals who are certified or licensed to administer therapeutic pharmaceuticals or certified to prescribe diagnostic pharmaceuticals. Patron - Jones, S.C. HB1153 Animal medical care facility disclosure forms. Requires that the form currently required to be provided by veterinary facilities to disclose that overnight care is not provided be separate from any other form or information provided by the facility. The bill also states that only one form per client shall be required. Patron - Callahan HB1245 Professions and occupations; Real Estate Board; license requirements. Redefines the terms "real estate firm," "real estate broker" and "real estate salesperson." Patron - Drake HB1246 Professions and occupations; Real Estate Board; protection of escrow funds. Clarifies that it is unlawful for any licensee of the Real Estate Board or an agent of such licensee to divert or misuse any funds held in escrow or other funds held by him on behalf of another. Patron - Drake HB1299 Drug Control Act. Amends the inventory provision and Schedules II and IV of the Drug Control Act to conform to recent changes in federal law. This bill clarifies that, upon starting up a business involving the manufacturing, compounding, processing, selling, dispensing or disposing of controlled substances (including the operation of a pharmacy), a person with no controlled substances on hand for the initial inventory must record this fact. After the initial inventory is taken, every person operating one of the regulated businesses must take another inventory at least every two years on any date which is within two years of the previous inventory. This bill also adds Remifentanil to the list of opiates on Schedule II and moves Pentazocine from the list of depressants on Schedule IV to a new, less specific category of Schedule IV and adds Butorphanol to this new category. Virginia's Drug Control Act mirrors federal law by specifically setting out the drug schedules and other federal requirements; therefore, the federal law or regulation amendments relating to the Food and Drug Administration frequently require the Commonwealth's law to be revised. Patron - Morgan HB1300 Requirements for controlled substances registration. Clarifies who may receive Schedule II drugs and who may possess controlled substances without registering; authorizes the Board of Pharmacy to register entities which are not currently so registered (such as hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and other facilities not licensed as pharmacies) to hold controlled substances; and requires the surrender of a registration and reapplication upon any change of ownership or control of a business, any change of location of the controlled substances stock, the termination of authority by or of the person named as the responsible party on a controlled substances registration, or a change in the supervising practitioner. Within 14 days of surrendering the registration, the registrant must file a new application and, if applicable, name the new responsible party or supervising practitioner. The bill also adds licensed pharmacists, permitted pharmacies and licensed practitioners of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, dentistry or veterinary medicine to the list of those who may receive Schedule II drugs. Patron - Morgan HB1311 Health professions; selling eyeglasses. Allows practitioners of the healing arts to sell eyeglasses and contact lenses from within the practitioner's office if the practitioner is engaged in the examination of eyes and prescribing of eyeglasses. Only those practitioners of the healing arts who engage in the examination of eyes and prescribing of eyeglasses may engage in the sale or promotion of eyeglasses. While maintaining the duty of practitioners to inform the patient of his right to have the prescription filled at any establishment, the bill removes the prohibition against offering any inducement or encouragement to patients to have the prescription filled at an establishment owned or partially owned by the practitioner. These activities are more specifically covered under the practitioners' Self-Referral Act. Patron - Rust HB1338 Real Estate Board; approval of continuing education courses. Requires the Board to (i) prepare a comprehensive listing of courses, pre-approved by the Board, related to professional competency requirements of the multifamily residential and commercial office industries; (ii) develop, through regulation, criteria for evaluating and approving continuing education course credits and for awarding credit hours for such courses; and (iii) approve the recommended course titles, content, and hours of continuing education credit developed and published by national professional real estate trade associations, unless the Board documents in writing why they should not be approved, stating the reasons therefor. The bill also expands the subjects for the continuing education required during each licensing term to include ethics and standards of conduct. The provisions of the bill pertaining to the expanded continuing education subjects has an effective date of January 1, 1999. Patron - Diamonstein HB1415 Board for Contractors; requirements for licensure; exemption. Authorizes licensed architects and professional engineers to bid or negotiate design-build contracts and to perform services related to such contracts other than construction services, without being licensed as a contractor. However, the bill provides that performance of the construction services in connection with such contracts must be rendered by a licensed contractor. Patron - Woodrum SB33 Emergency Medical Services Do Not Resuscitate (EMSDNR) Orders. Authorizes licensed hospital personnel, when acting within their scope of practice, to honor EMSDNR orders for 24 hours after admission. Presently, only EMS pre-hospital personnel and hospital emergency department health care providers are authorized to honor EMSDNR orders. After hospital admission, however, the EMSDNR orders have no effect; therefore, a new order must be written--a process which usually takes some hours. This bill provides time to bridge this hiatus between emergency room or EMS transport and the writing of a hospital Do Not Resuscitate order. Patron - Quayle SB94 Professions and occupations; martial arts instructors. Allows the Cities of Norfolk and Chesapeake (described by population) to require martial arts instruction businesses to have a person who is trained in first aid on the premises. Any person who fails to comply with such an ordinance may be subject to civil penalties not to exceed $50 for the first violation and $100 for the second. Patron - Miller, Y.B. SB157 Professions and occupations; regulation of professional boxers and wrestlers. Authorizes the Director of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation to enter into a contract for partial privatization of the regulation of professional boxing and wrestling. The bill also authorizes the Director to promulgate regulations for the conduct of boxing and wrestling matches. The bill specifies when a license is required to conduct or promote such matches and enumerates specific penalties for violations of the statutes or the Department's regulations. Patron - Martin SB181 Attorney disciplinary proceedings. Provides that when a rule to show cause is issued in disciplinary proceedings by the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals, it is returnable to the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond. The Chief Justice is to designate three circuit court judges to hear and decide the case and if the rule is issued by the Court of Appeals or a circuit court, the judges must be from a circuit other than the one in which the case is pending. This bill is recommended by the Judicial Council. Patron - Gartlan SB429 Emergency Medical Services Orders. Clarifies that an Emergency Medical Services Do Not Resuscitate Order may be issued by an attending physician for his patient who is diagnosed to be afflicted with a terminal condition or for whom he has otherwise issued a Do Not Resuscitate Order only with the consent of the patient or, if the patient is incapable of making an informed decision regarding consent for such an order, of the person authorized to consent on the patient's behalf. If the patient, or, if the patient is incapable of making an informed decision, the person authorized to consent on the patient's behalf, expresses to such emergency medical services personnel or hospital emergency department health care providers the desire to be resuscitated prior to cardiac or respiratory arrest, the Do Not Resuscitate Order shall not be carried out. "Person authorized to consent on the patient's behalf" is defined as any person authorized by law to consent on behalf of the patient incapable of making an informed decision. Patron - Houck SB470 Preneed funeral contracts. Clarifies that the creation of an irrevocable inter vivos trust for the purpose of paying the grantor's funeral and burial expenses is allowable, notwithstanding the requirement of § 54.1-2820 A 7 that the purchaser be refunded all consideration paid or delivered pursuant to a preneed funeral contract with any interest or income accrued if the contract is terminated within 30 days of execution. Patron - Quayle SB488 Certificates authorizing practice of law. Allows the Supreme Court to transfer to the Board of Bar Examiners responsibility for issuing certificates for out-of-state lawyers to practice law without taking an examination under the current reciprocity provisions. Patron - Reasor SB510 Professions and occupations; asbestos and lead contractors, workers, and supervisors, etc. Conforms Virginia law to federal regulations by adding a number of definitions of the various asbestos and lead programs, occupations, plans, and terminology. The bill also allows a contractor to contract to perform a project, a portion of which constitutes asbestos or lead abatement work, if all the asbestos or lead abatement work is subcontracted to a person licensed to perform such work. Private parties working on their own buildings are also exempted, but only if no other person or persons resides in the building and no child resides in the building who has been identified as having an elevated blood-lead level. The bill also provides for the Board to approve the criteria for accredited training programs, accredited lead training programs, training managers and principal instructors. In addition, the bill deletes redundant references to the Board's power to approve asbestos courses and primary instructors. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee To Study Lead-Based Paint Abatement. Patron - Lambert SB516 Health regulatory boards; inactive licensure. Allows health regulatory boards to issue inactive licenses or certificates and promulgate regulations to carry out such purpose. The regulations shall include, but not be limited to, the qualifications, renewal fees, and conditions for reactivation licenses or certificates. Patron - Martin SB549 Board of Medicine; chronic pain guidelines. Authorizes the Board of Medicine to endorse, in the furtherance of its responsibility to ensure continued practitioner competency, the Medical Society of Virginia's Guidelines for the Use of Opioids in the Management of Chronic, Non-Cancer Pain, developed and adopted in 1997. "Endorse" is defined as to publicize and distribute such guidelines as an appropriate standard of care; however, the Board's endorsement must not be construed to mean that the chronic pain guidelines must be followed or are regulations or are in any way intended to be enforceable law. Patron - Woods SB550 Health Professions; physical therapists. Allows licensed physical therapists to practice without referral when providing services to (i) a student athlete participating in a school-sponsored athletic activity, while the student is at such activity, if the physical therapist is certified as an athletic trainer by the National Athletic Training Association or as a sports certified specialist by the America Board of Physical Therapy Specialties, or (ii) employees for the purpose of evaluation and consultation related to workplace ergonomics. Currently, licensed physical therapists are prohibited from practice except upon referral and direction of a licensed doctor of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, podiatry or dental surgery. Patron - Woods SB560 Practice of pharmacy; penalties. Revises provisions relating to maintenance, storage and transfer of prescription dispensing records, regulatory offenses, and closing and changing ownership of a pharmacy. The bill amends numerous sections relating to patient records to clarify that prescription dispensing records are not to be stored on microfilm or microphotographs, but must be stored or transferred in compliance with the statutes relating to selling and dispensing drugs, refilling prescriptions, and the required dispensing data. This bill also clarifies, to eliminate a possible dual ownership of records, that, when a health care provider is employed by another health care provider, the owner of the medical records is the employer. A prohibition on removing patient records from the premises is modified to refer to the statutes relating to selling and dispensing drugs, refilling prescriptions, and the required dispensing data. The bill modifies the authority to disclose patient records "in the normal course of business in accordance with accepted standards of practice within the health services setting" to note that the maintenance, storage, and disclosure of the mass of prescription dispensing records must be accomplished only in compliance with the statues relating to selling and dispensing drugs, refilling prescriptions, and the required dispensing data. This bill adds as an "unlawful act" refusing to process a request, tendered in accordance with the regulations of the relevant health regulatory board or applicable statutory law, for patient records or prescription dispensing records after the closing of a business or professional practice or the transfer of ownership of a business or professional practice. This statute is also amended to note, however, that the law must not be construed to prohibit or prevent the owner of patient records from retaining copies of his patient records or prescription dispensing records after the closing of a business or professional practice or the transfer of ownership of a business or professional practice or the charging of a reasonable fee, not in excess of the amounts authorized § 8.01-413, for copies of patient records. "Change of ownership" is defined in the Drug Control Act to mean (i) the sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the entity or of any corporation that owns or controls the entity; (ii) the creation of a partnership by a sole proprietor, the dissolution of a partnership, or change in partnership composition; (iii) the acquisition or disposal of 50 percent or more of the outstanding shares of voting stock of a corporation owning the entity or of the parent corporation of a wholly owned subsidiary owning the entity, except for a corporation in which the voting stock is actively traded on any securities exchange or in any over-the-counter market; (iv) the merger of a corporation owning the entity or of the parent corporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary owning the entity with another business or corporation; or (v) the expiration or forfeiture of a corporation's charter. The pharmacy permitting statute is revised to require information on hours of operation and notice of a change in these hours which is expected to last more than one week. Cessation of the operation of a pharmacy requires the surrender of the pharmacy permit. The Board of Pharmacy is specifically authorized to promulgate regulations defining acquisition of an existing permitted, registered or licensed facility or of any corporation under which the facility is directly or indirectly organized, to provide for the transfer, confidentiality, integrity, and security of the pharmacy's prescription dispensing records, regardless of where located. The Board of Pharmacy will promulgate regulations providing for precise criteria for "closing of a pharmacy" and exceptions to the requirements of the closing statute. Upon any change of ownership of a pharmacy, regardless of how such change may be effectuated, the prescription dispensing records and other patient records for at least two years immediately prior to the change of ownership must be transferred to the new owner in a manner to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and security of the pharmacy's prescription dispensing records and other patient records and the continuity of pharmacy services at substantially the same level as that offered by the previous owner. Refusing to process a request for the prescription dispensing records and other patient records tendered in accordance with law or regulation will constitute a closing and the requirements of the closing statute will apply. Such refusal may constitute a violation of the general penalty statute (§ 54.1-111), depending on the circumstances. This bill has an emergency clause and an enactment requiring emergency regulations. Patron - Walker SB599 Occupational therapists. Converts the requirements for certification of occupational therapists to requirements for licensure, without adding any additional criteria. Patron - Houck SB630 Do Not Resuscitate Orders. Revises the present Emergency Medical Services Do Not Resuscitate Order section to become a general Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR) provision. The DNR Order must be issued by an attending physician in writing for a patient who is terminal or for whom he has otherwise written such DNR Order and must be consented to by the patient or a person who is authorized to consent for the patient, e.g., the parent or guardian of a minor child. The Board of Health will continue to designate which emergency medical services personnel may follow these orders in the prehospital setting. Emergency medical services personnel are not authorized to withhold comfort care. The DNR Order will follow the patient, i.e., the DNR Order may be followed in the prehospital setting, hospital, nursing home, or other licensed institution. A new order may be issued, with the consent of the patient or his authorized decision-maker, upon the revocation of a DNR. Definitions and exception statutes are amended to be consistent. This bill is identical to HB 843. Patron - Forbes SB632 Patient-identifying prescription information. Defines patient-identifying prescription information and allows providers to disclose records, aggregate, or other data from which patient-identifying information has been removed, to qualified researchers, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and their agents, for purposes of clinical, pharmaco-epidemiological or pharmaco-economic research. Adds language that prohibits the furnishing of health care records to a patient if the patient's treating physician states in writing that, in his opinion, doing so would cause actual harm to the patient's physical or mental health or cause the patient to be an imminent danger to himself or others. Patron - Gartlan SB654 Delivery of prescription drugs. Requires certain conditions whenever any pharmacy permitted in Virginia and any nonresident pharmacy registered to do business in the Commonwealth delivers a prescription drug order by mail or common carrier or delivery service, when the drug order is not personally hand-delivered directly to the patient or his agent at the person's residence or other designated location, i.e., written notice be placed in each shipment alerting the consumer that under certain circumstances chemical degradation of drugs may occur and written notice be placed in each shipment providing a toll-free or local consumer access telephone number which is designed to respond to consumer questions pertaining to chemical degradation of drugs. Patron - Edwards SB665 Respiratory care practitioners. Converts the requirements for certification of respiratory therapists to requirements for licensure of respiratory care practitioners. New definitions relating to the practice of respiratory care, etc., are included. The advisory board's authority has been revised to reflect the licensure requirements. Emergency regulations will be required of the Board of Medicine, and anyone who is currently certified will be grandfathered in and licensed. Patron - Lambert SB690 Practice of physician assistants. Defines physician assistant and provides licensure under supervision and employment of a licensed doctor of medicine, osteopathy or podiatry; adds the Advisory Committee on Physician Assistants to assist the Board of Medicine in carrying out the statutory provisions pertaining to physician assistants; and adds a provision to permit physician assistants to practice with a restricted license in free clinics, if such employment is without compensation. Patron - Walker SB700 Department of Professions and Occupations; Cemetery Board. Creates the Cemetery Board at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation for the regulation of certain cemeteries, preneed burials contracts, and perpetual care trust accounts. The bill transfers control of preneed burial contract and the administration of perpetual care trusts from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to this newly created board. The bill also contains technical amendments. Patron - Maxwell Failed HB637 Pharmacy benefits managers; registration. Defines "pharmacy benefits manager" and requires such persons, whether located in Virginia or in another state, territory or possession, to register such information as the Board of Pharmacy prescribes by regulation. This provision defines pharmacy benefits manager as a person other than one regulated by the Board of Pharmacy who has access to or reviews patient prescription dispensing records for prescriptions issued and dispensed in Virginia for the purpose of administering any pharmacy program, including such responsibilities as utilization review of prescriptive practices, dispensing of controlled substances, determining prescription coverage under any health benefits program, and making decisions on the drugs that will be or are included in any formulary for any health benefits program. The Board must promulgate regulations to identify and monitor the implementation of pharmacy benefits management in Virginia and to ensure the confidentiality of patient records. Pharmacy benefits managers will only be authorized to disclose prescription dispensing information and patient record information in accordance with the Board's regulations. This provision specifically states that pharmacy benefits managers are not health care providers because, under Virginia law, health care providers own the patient records. Any pharmacy benefits manager practicing a profession or business which is regulated by any health regulatory board must continue to hold a valid license, permit, certificate or registration. The registration fee will be the same as that charged for pharmacy permitting in Virginia and the registration must be renewed annually. This bill was incorporated into House Bill 1101. Patron - Morgan HB929 Professions and occupations; unlawful procurement of a license. Clarifies that it also unlawful to obtain a registration through theft or other fraudulent or illegal means. The bill also increases the penalty for unlawfully procuring a license, permit, certificate or registration from a Class 2 misdemeanor to a Class 1 misdemeanor. Patron - Nixon HB1224 Health professions; opticians. Provides an additional certification for opticians to prepare, fit and dispense contact lenses on prescription from licensed physicians or optometrists. The bill also provides for additional restrictions on opticians in that prescription eyeglasses, spectacles, lenses or related appurtenances must be fitted to the intended wearer and provides for direct supervision of trainees or apprentices by licensed opticians. In addition, the bill mandates that the Board establish continuing education requirements. Patron - Deeds HB1333 Department of Professions and Occupations; Cemetery Board. Creates the Cemetery Board at the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation for the regulation of certain cemeteries, preneed burials contracts, and perpetual care trust accounts. The bill transfers control of preneed burial contract and the administration of perpetual care trusts from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to this newly created board. The bill also increases from 40 to 100 percent the trusting requirements for preneed burial contracts (as is currently required for preneed funeral contracts), and prohibits cemetery companies from engaging in in-person solicitations. The bill also contains technical amendments. Patron - Rhodes SB277 Board of Dentistry; reimbursement of members for certain testing activities; procurement responsibilities. Provides that, notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 2.1-20.3, 2.1-639.4, 11-76, and 11-77, the members of the Board of Dentistry may be engaged by a testing agency as examiners for licensure of dentists or dental hygienists and be compensated by such testing agency at a rate in excess of $50 per day while engaged in the duties related to the examination of applicants for licensure as dentists or dental hygienists. This bill also authorizes such members having official responsibility for a procurement transaction relating to licensure testing services to participate in that transaction on behalf of the Board regardless of whether such members know or have reason to know that they will or may be engaged by a testing agency as examiners for licensure of dentists or dental hygienists and receive such compensation for such service, if the compensation accepted is the same as the compensation paid to all other examiners on the date on which such member is so engaged. Patron - Williams SB339 Licensure of individuals conducting utilization review in this Commonwealth. Requires individuals making final adverse decisions regarding the medical necessity or appropriateness of any diagnosis, course of treatment or care of a patient to be licensed or otherwise regulated by a health regulatory board within the Department of Health Professions. Patron - Williams SB348 Board of Dentistry; reimbursement of members for certain testing activities; procurement responsibilities. Provides that, notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 2.1-20.3, 2.1-639.4, 11-76, and 11-77, the members of the Board of Dentistry may be engaged by a testing agency as examiners for licensure of dentists or dental hygienists and be compensated by such testing agency at a rate in excess of $50 per day while engaged in the duties related to the examination of applicants for licensure as dentists or dental hygienists. This bill also authorizes such members having official responsibility for a procurement transaction relating to licensure testing services to participate in that transaction on behalf of the Board regardless of whether such members know or have reason to know that they will or may be engaged by a testing agency as examiners for licensure of dentists or dental hygienists and receive such compensation for such service, if the compensation accepted is the same as the compensation paid to all other examiners on the date on which such member is so engaged. Patron - Edwards SB479 Board of Nursing; certification of electrologists. Requires the Nursing Board to certify electrologists, defined as any person who removes hair permanently through the use of electrical instruments which utilize needles or probes. The bill requires the Board to maintain a registry of all certified electrologists and to promulgate regulations governing the criteria for certification as an electrologist. There are technical amendments. Patron - Edwards SB502 Registration of nonresident pharmacies. Requires nonresident pharmacies, when providing pharmacy services to a citizen of the Commonwealth, to comply with the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth and the Virginia Board of Pharmacy which govern the practice of pharmacy, except those laws or regulations relating to licensure as a pharmacist in Virginia, the physical requirements for pharmacies, the specified ratio of pharmacists to ancillary personnel, and those instances in which compliance constitutes a violation of the laws or regulations of the resident state. Patron - Newman SB627 Practice of dental hygiene. Authorizes dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia with the approval and under the direction of a licensed dentist. This bill revises the definition of dental hygiene to include administration of local anesthesia, and authorizes the Board to establish education and training for licensure and continuing education for dental hygienists already licensed. This bill will be effective on July 1, 2000; however, the Board is directed in a third enactment to appoint an ad hoc committee to assist in the development of the regulations and directed, in a fourth enactment, to promulgate regulations to implement this act to be effective within 280 days of its enactment. No dental hygienist can be approved to administer local anesthesia under the regulations or the act, however, until July 1, 2000. The requirements for approval to administer local anesthesia must include education in pharmacology and clinical training designed to ensure the health and safety of the patients. Patron - Gartlan Carried Over HB636 Collaborative practice agreements. Requires the Director of the Department of Health Professions to establish a committee to study the need for regulating collaborative practice agreements. Collaborative practice agreements involve the pooling of various practitioners' expertise to deliver health care. The committee must consist of at least three members of the Board of Medicine, three members of the Board of Pharmacy, and one citizen member of any other health regulatory board. The committee will examine various issues related to collaborative practice agreements, including other states' laws and regulations, the effects of such arrangements on the public's health and safety, regulatory issues related to scope of practice, definitions, impediments in law or regulation to such arrangements, the appropriate mechanism for regulating such arrangements, etc. The Department of Health Professions will staff this committee and a report of the committee's findings and recommendations is required by December 1, 1998. Patron - Morgan HB771 Board of Pharmacy; membership. Specifies the professional membership of the Board by requiring three members practicing in independent retail pharmacies; two practicing in retail chain pharmacies which operate at least five pharmacies licensed in Virginia; one practicing in an acute care institution; one practicing in a long-term care institution or in a closed shop pharmacy dispensing exclusively to long-term care patients; and one practicing in a managed care organization. Appropriate organizations will be authorized to make nominations for appointments. A second enactment provides that the act must not be construed to require the replacement of any duly appointed members of the Board of Pharmacy who are currently serving; however, for any appointment made after July 1, 1998, and until the requirements of this provision are satisfied, the Governor must evaluate the practice settings of the remaining members to ascertain which of the practice locations required by this provision are not being satisfied and shall appoint to the Board a member to represent one of these practice locations. Patron - Hamilton HB810 Board for Contractors; licensure of construction crane operators. Requires, beginning July 1, 1999, the licensing of construction crane operators by the Board for Contractors. The bill sets out the minimum qualifications for licensure and authorizes the Board to waive the written examination requirement for applicants who hold a valid license or certification from another jurisdiction. The bill requires the Board for Contractors to adopt final regulations on or before July 1, 1999. Patron - Woodrum HB828 Professions and occupations; regulation of peddlers. Defines peddler and itinerant merchant, sets out their record-keeping requirements, and authorizes federal, state, and local law-enforcement officers to examine the records of the peddlers and itinerant merchants. The bill is an attempt to reduce larceny by eliminating the point of sale for stolen merchandise. Patron - Woodrum HB1127 Pharmacy; Virginia Ethics in Prescription Drug Choice Act. Creates the Virginia Ethics in Prescription Drug Choice Act, which would prohibit the practice of soliciting or encouraging, after a prescribing practitioner issues a prescription for a drug, the substitution of that drug with a chemically dissimilar drug for the purposes of rebate, kick-back, or other such remuneration. The bill establishes civil penalties ranging from $10 to $1,000 and provides for recovery of damages, if any. This act expires on July 1, 1999. Patron - Davies HB1143 Prescription drug information. Requires, as a condition of the counseling for any new prescription and in material for any refill, that the pharmacist inform the patient (in writing or orally) of the manufacturer's expiration date for the prescription when stored in an unopened manufacturer's package under appropriate conditions for the specific drug. Such statement must be qualified to note that such expiration date may not be an accurate measure of drug stability and effectiveness or serve as a suitable beyond-use date because drugs degrade differently under various circumstances of temperature, light, and exposure to air and that the conditions of storage, as well as the age of the drug, must be used to assess potential effectiveness. Patron - Moran HB1184 Depository for attorney fees. Provides that no attorney may deposit an amount made in payment of a settlement or judgment or arbitration award into his personal account or accept such payment made payable to him personally. Further, the bill requires that disbursement of sums pursuant to such payments shall be made within 30 days of receipt by the attorney. Patron - O'Brien HB1307 Health; pharmacy. Requires the pharmacist to include on the label of any prescription container the approximate date of expiration for that drug according to the manufacturer's information. Special storage conditions shall also be noted, either on the label or in the patient counseling information. Patron - May SB334 Health professions; pharmacy technicians. Directs the Board of Pharmacy to establish a registration program for pharmacy technicians to include minimum standards, education, testing, and acceptable alternatives to the examination or educational programs. Patron - Miller, Y.B. SB526 Department of Health Professions; Board for Funeral Directors and Embalmers. Increases the membership of the Board for Funeral Directors and Embalmers to 17 with the addition of six cemetery operators and two additional citizen member representatives of local governments and expands the responsibility for the regulation of certain cemeteries, preneed burials contracts, and perpetual care trust accounts. The bill transfers control of preneed burial contract and the administration of perpetual care trusts from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to the Board. The Board's name is changed to Board for Funeral Directors, Embalmers and Cemeteries. The bill also increases from 40 to 100 percent the trusting requirements for preneed burial contracts (as is currently required for preneed funeral contracts), and prohibits cemetery companies from engaging in in-person solicitations. The bill also contains technical amendments. Patron - Marye SB600 Spinal manipulation. Defines "spinal manipulation" and prohibits the practice of spinal manipulation by a licensed physician or licensed practitioner of chiropractic or osteopathic medicine until such provider has completed 200 hours of instruction in spinal manipulation through a course or institution approved by the Board of Medicine. Patron - Barry SB639 Health professions; opticians. Provides an additional certification for opticians to prepare, fit and dispense contact lenses on prescription from licensed physicians or optometrists. The bill also provides for additional restrictions on opticians in that prescription eyeglasses, spectacles, lenses or related appurtenances must be fitted to the intended wearer and provides for direct supervision of trainees or apprentices by licensed opticians. In addition, the bill mandates that the Board establish continuing education requirements. Patron - Hanger SB710 Pharmacy; Virginia Ethics in Prescription Drug Choice Act. Creates the Virginia Ethics in Prescription Drug Choice Act, which would prohibit the practice of soliciting or encouraging, after a prescribing practitioner issues a prescription for a drug, the substitution of that drug with a chemically dissimilar drug for the purposes of rebate, kick-back, or other such remuneration. The bill establishes civil penalties ranging from $10 to $1,000 and provides for recovery of damages, if any. Patron - Hawkins < PREVIOUS | CONTENTS | NEXT >