This bill makes the following changes and additions to present law concerning health related boards: (1) This bill deletes a present law requirement that, before issuing a license, the division of health related boards shall cause the license to be signed by the members of the board of the particular branch of the healing arts in which the holder thereof is being licensed; (2) This bill specifies that, for any health related board, three or more members constitute a quorum for all contested case hearings and disciplinary matters, and the presiding officer of the agency is authorized, when necessary, to split the agency into panels of three or more, each to conduct contested case hearings or disciplinary matters. The full text of this bill specifies procedural and organizational requirements that will apply to the administrative hearing panels; (3) Present law requires health care providers to make their medical records available for inspection and copying by the department of health or its representatives, designees, or employees based on certain conditions. This bill specifies that such requirement also applied to licensed health care facilities, sets a 10-business day deadline for providers and facilities to make their records available for inspection and copying, specifies that patient billing records are subject to inspection and copying, and that providers and facilities that use electronic records must provide the department with copies within 10 business days; (4) One of the conditions under which a provider or facility must make records available under (3) is upon a written request made by the department of health investigators, inspectors, or surveyors who are performing authorized investigations, inspections or surveys of facilities or providers 68 based on a complaint filed with the department or an inspection or survey required by state or federal law. This bill adds that when such condition is the basis for inspection and copying of records, the obligation to provide access and copies of records is not limited to the subject of the complaint, inspection, or survey, but rather to any healthcare provider and facility that receives such a request; (5) Under present law, after the filing of formal disciplinary charges against a health care provider, only the materials and documents upon which the charges are based may be disclosed as a public record, but not the complainant's identifying information, identifying information of a witness who requests anonymity, patient's identifying information, patient's medical record, or investigator's report. This bill specifies materials and documents upon which the charges are based may only be disclosed when disciplinary charges are filed against the provider pursuant to the contested case provisions of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act and that such materials and documents may be disclosed either as a public record or in response to a subpoena. This bill adds that the information that is presently no to be disclosed after the filing of formal disciplinary charges may be disclosed pursuant to a subpoena; (6) This bill deletes a provision of present law that requires the commissioner of health to approve as a licensed electrologist any person meeting the requirements for licensure, except for the electrologist education and examination requirements, if the person has actively been engaged in the practice of electrology in Tennessee six months or more prior to applying for licensure; and (7) This bill changes the accrediting organization for educational programs that will be accepted in satisfaction of the licensure requirements for a registered respiratory therapist or a certified respiratory therapist from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs in collaboration with the Committee on Accreditation for Respiratory Care to the National Board for Respiratory Care.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 63-1-105, 63-1-117, 63-1-117(g), 63-26-115, 63-27-105, 63-27-106(a), 63-27-106, 63-27-107(a), 63-27-107