Health/Hospital Law
HB 1419 — Massage Therapists. (See Licensing Law)
SS HCS HB 1790 — Municipal Health Care Facilities and Hospital Designations.
Municipal Health Care Facilities. Currently, an ordinance providing for a larger board of trustees for municipal health care facilities requires that three-fifths of the trustees be citizens of the city. Now, the statute specifies that some or all of the trustees do not have to be citizens of the city.
Hospital Designations. Currently, a hospital can be designated as a trauma center and severely injured patients will be transported to the nearest designated trauma center. Laws regarding hospital designation by the Department of Health and Senior Services are changed to include a STEMI center and a stroke center if the hospital meets the department’s applicable level of STEMI or stroke center criteria. “ST-elevation myocardial infarction” (STEMI) is defined as a type of heart attack in which impaired blood flow to the heart is evidenced by findings in electrocardiogram analysis. (Signed 7/10/08)
HB 1791 — Licensed Professional Counselors. Defines “licensed professional counselor” and includes these individuals as mental health professionals working in the Division of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services within the Department of Mental Health. (Signed 6/19/08)
HCS HB 2036 — Additional Funding for Elderly Services. (See Local Government Law)
SCS HB 2065 — Psychologists. Repeals the current reciprocity provision which allows a licensed or certified psychologist in another state with similar qualifications to receive a Missouri license without meeting the required criteria and allows for the destruction of the records of meritless claims against psychologists by sexual predators under certain circumstances. (Signed 6/19/08)
CCS HCS SCS SB 724 — Controlled Substances, Pseudoephedrine Purchases, Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, and Christian Science Nurses. Changes laws regarding the controlled substance list, pseudoephedrine purchases, and prescriptive authority for advanced practice registered nurses.
Authorizes advanced practice registered nurses who hold a certificate of controlled substance prescriptive authority from the State Board of Nursing to enter into collaborative agreements with physicians to administer and dispense Schedule III, IV, and V control substances but prohibits them, under any circumstance, from prescribing a controlled substance for themselves or any family member;
Limits a Schedule III narcotic controlled substance prescription to a 120-hour supply without refill;
Limits the purchase of any number of packages of any drug product containing ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, or pseudoephedrine in any amount greater than three and six-tenths grams within any 24-hour period;
Establishes guidelines for controlled substance collaborative agreements and the documentation required for the state board to grant a certificate for prescriptive authority;
Prohibits physicians from entering into collaborative practice arrangements with more than three full-time equivalent advanced practice registered nurses. This limitation does not apply to collaborative arrangements in certain hospitals or population-based public health service centers; and
Allows Christian Science nurses to provide religious, nonmedical services to any person who chooses to rely upon healing by spiritual means alone and repeals the provision which specifies that only individuals listed in the Christian Science Journal as Christian Science nurses may use the title Christian Science nurse.
Provisions regarding the revised scheduled controlled substance list and pseudoephedrine purchases become effective January 1, 2009. (Signed 6/10/08)
SS SCS SB 768 — Autism Spectrum Disorders. Defines “autism spectrum disorders” to include autism, pervasive developmental disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and Rett’s syndrome and establishes the Missouri Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders within the Department of Mental Health to advise and make recommendations regarding all levels of autism spectrum disorder services.
Establishes the Office of Autism Services in the Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities within the Department of Mental Health to provide leadership in program development for children and adults with autism spectrum disorders including program standards and the coordination of program capacity. (Signed 6/24/08)
SCS SB 788 — Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions, and Professional Registration; Joint Committee on Preneed Funeral Contracts; Disposition of Dead Bodies; and Manufactured Housing. (See State Government Law)
HCS SCS SB 1039 — Emergency Services (see also SB 1044). Specifies that when a licensed ambulance is used as an ambulance and staffed with volunteers, the other crew member required in addition to the EMT may be a licensed EMT, registered nurse, physician, or certified first responder.
Christian County, upon voter approval of a county sales tax for central dispatching of emergency services, is required to appoint a seven-member board including the heads of any of the county’s fire protection districts, any of the county’s ambulance districts, any of the police departments in the county, any of the county’s emergency management organizations, and the county sheriff, or their respective designee, to administer the funds and oversee the provision of emergency services. (Signed 6/25/08)
SCS SB 1044 — Ambulance Staffing Requirements. Makes changes in ambulance staffing requirements. (Signed 6/19/08)
SB 1061 — County Coroners. (See Local Government Law)
CCS SB SB 1068 — Pharmacies and Pharmacy Services. Changes laws regarding pharmacies and pharmacy services.
Creates the Missouri Fibromyalgia Awareness Initiative Program.
Pharmacy Audits. Establishes guidelines that entities must follow when auditing a pharmacy. Any entity conducting an audit must develop an appeal process under which a pharmacy can appeal an unfavorable audit report. Does not apply to any investigative audits involving fraud, willful misrepresentation, or abuse.
Pharmacy Rebates Fund. The Pharmacy Rebates Fund is created to be used in the MO HealthNet Pharmacy Program. Any money received by the state from pharmaceutical manufacturer rebates as required by federal law or state supplemental rebates as specified in State Medicaid Plan amendments must be deposited into the fund and can only be used in the program. (Signed 7/10/08)
HCS SCS SB SB 1081 — Mental Health Care Providers and Services. Changes laws regarding mental health care providers and services.
Family Care Safety Registry. Beginning January 1, 2009, the bill requires every mental health worker to complete a registration form for the Family Care Safety Registry.
Comprehensive Psychiatric Services.
Includes suicide prevention intervention rendered in good faith by a qualified counselor or any other person to the list of care or services rendered in an emergency situation that are immune from civil liability;
Requires facilities or programs operated, funded, or licensed by the Department of Mental Health to disclose medical record information to a patient’s guardian or legal custodian as allowed by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act;
Specifies that measures used to ensure the safety and security of patients by the head of a mental health facility during a natural or man-made disaster will not be considered restraint, isolation, or seclusion;
Adds investigations regarding mental health admission, detention for evaluation, and treatment by health care professionals, public officials, and certain peace officers to the list of actions that are immune from civil liability.
Group Homes and Mental Retardation Facilities.
Defines “group home” as a residential facility serving nine or fewer residents that provides basic health supervision, training in skills of daily and independent living and community integration, and social support;
Adds direct care staff in a group home or mental retardation facility to the list of health care providers required to report suspected abuse of a patient to the department;
Requires group homes and mental retardation facilities to be licensed by the department and be subject to all federal and state laws and regulations;
Requires mental health workers to be subject to the same training requirements established for state mental health workers with comparable positions;
Requires, subject to appropriations, mental health workers to be paid an amount at least equal to the hourly wage paid by the state to mental health workers with comparable positions;
Requires group homes and mental retardation facilities to be subject to the same medical error reporting requirements as other mental health facilities and group homes;
Requires any employee of a group home or mental retardation facility who has been placed on the employee disqualification list to be terminated;
Requires all mental health facilities, beginning January 1, 2009, to submit a comprehensive quarterly report on staff and personnel turnover;
Requires the department, beginning January 1, 2009, to collect information contained on the mental health facilities’ quarterly reports and submit an annual report to the General Assembly by March 15; and
Prohibits the transfer of any person to a group home for mental retardation facility that has received a notice of noncompliance until there is an approved plan of correction.
Provider Assessments. Defines “intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded” relating to health care for the developmentally disabled and provider assessments and includes provisions relating to assessments which must be paid by such providers;
Provisions regarding provider assessments will expire June 30, 2009.
Contains an emergency clause for the provisions regarding provider assessments. (Signed 6/25/08)
SCS SB SB 1139 — Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Changes laws regarding the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, promotes uniformity of law among states, and defines “anatomical gift” as a donation of all or part of a human body after death. In its main provisions, the bill:
(1) Establishes requirements for coroners when two counties are involved in the determination and investigation of a death;
(2) Requires coroners and medical examiners to cooperate with a procurement organization to maximize the opportunity to recover anatomical gifts;
(3) Specifies additional requirements for coroners and medical examiners to follow regarding anatomical gifts;
(4) Requires the Department of Health and Senior Services to establish or contract for the establishment of a first person consent organ and tissue donor registry;
(5) Specifies which documents are acceptable to make an anatomical gift;
(6) Specifies how an anatomical gift can be revoked;
(7) Allows an individual to refuse to make an anatomical gift;
(8) Specifies who is authorized to make an anatomical gift of a deceased individual’s body and to whom an anatomical gift can be made;
(9) Allows emergency personnel and hospital staff to search a deceased or near-death individual for documentation as a donor;
(10)Specifies that, upon referral of a potential donor, a procurement organization will search a donor registry and other applicable records to determine if the individual has made an anatomical gift;
(11)Allows a procurement organization to conduct a medical exam to ensure medical suitability of the donation;
(12)Prohibits the attending physician at death or the physician who determines the time of death from participating in the removal or transplantation of a body part of the deceased;
(13)Specifies that a person who knowingly purchases or sells a body part for transplantation will be guilty of a felony and subject to a fine of up to $50,000, imprisonment not exceeding seven years, or both;
(14)Specifies that a person who knowingly falsifies, forges, conceals, defaces, or obliterates a document of gift, an amendment or revocation of a document of gift, or a refusal will be guilty of a felony and subject to a fine of up to $50,000, imprisonment not exceeding seven years, or both; and
(15)Requires the Department of Revenue to cooperate with a state-established donor registry.
Currently, a person may grant the right of sepulcher to any person if the designation is made in a written instrument which meets certain criteria established by law; however, the designation will not supersede the rights of the deceased’s spouse or certain family members. Current provisions allowing for such a designation are repealed. An attorney-in-fact designated in a durable power of attorney that specifically grants the right of sepulcher will have first priority for the purpose of determining who has the right to choose and control the final disposition of the body. (Signed 7/10/08)
HCS SB 1140 — Duties of the Office of Administration. (See State Government Law)
SB 1177 — Licensed Professional Counselors. (See State Government Law)