Complete Story
10/28/2011
OAPA Legislative Activities
The Ohio General Assembly is on recess through the November election. They will reconvene and begin holding committee meetings soon after. OAPA is hopeful that the third hearing for HB284, the PA Modernization Bill, will be held on November 16th. The association hopes to be able to offer additional testimony from physicians, OSU and the Cleveland Clinic.
OAPA, at this point, does not know what groups may provide opponent testimony. A Senate companion bill is being prepared and we hope to see it introduced in November.
Josanne Pagel, GAC Chair, Beth Adamson and OAPA Lobbyist Greg Lestini have met with a number of members of the House Health Committee but it is still important to contact your legislators and encourage them to support HB284. Please refer to the article “Please Contact Your Representative” at the end of this article for instructions.
In the first year of the Ohio General Assembly OAPA has reviewed the following bills.
HB11 (Sears, MAAG) Patient Protection. Will prohibit state departments and agencies from implementing or enforcing a provision of the federal PPACA without meeting certain conditions. OAPA is monitoring this bill which is awaiting its third hearing in the House Health Committee.
HB62 (Gonzales) Nurse Assault – To increase the penalty for assault on a nurse in the performance of official duties. This bill was amended to include all hospital personnel which would include PAs. The bill was passed by the House and is awaiting its first hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
HB71 (Luckie) Prescription Drugs – Creates the Ohio Official Prescription Program. OAPA is monitoring this bill and it is awaiting its second hearing in the House Health Committee.
HB93 (Burke, Johnson) Prescription Drugs – To establish and modify laws regarding the prevention of prescription drug abuse. OAPA participated in an interested party meeting. This bill was signed by the Governor in May.
HB128 (Carey, Peterson) EMS Staffing – To revise the requirements for staffing ambulances. OAPA was unsuccessful in getting PAs amended into the bill which was signed by the Governor in June.
HB244 (Gonzales) Flu Vaccines – To permit authorized paramedics to administer immunizations for influenza to firefighters or EMTs. OAPA is monitoring this bill which is awaiting a third hearing in the House Health Committee.
HB259 (Adams, Yuko) Alternative Medicine – Regarding the provision of complementary or alternative health services. OAPA is monitoring this bill and discussing possible opposition in support of the physician societies. The bill is awaiting its third hearing in the House Health Committee.
HB303 (Schuring) Revise Nursing Laws – Revise the law governing nurses, medication aides, dialysis technicians and certified community health workers. OAPA is monitoring this bill and plans on speaking to the Sponsor as to the scope of the revisions. The bill is awaiting its first hearing in the House Health Committee.
HB334 (Johnson) Prescription Tracking – Regarding the participation of pharmacies, retailers and the AG in electronically tracking pseudoephedrine and ephedrine product sales through a national exchange. OAPA is monitoring this bill which is awaiting its first hearing in the House Health Committee.
SB25 (Tavares) Medicaid Payments – To specify that the Ohio prompt payment law applies to payment of claims by Medicaid managed care organizations. OAPA is monitoring this bill which has been referred to the Senate Health Committee.
SB83 (Oelslager) APN Schedule II – This bill has passed the Senate and is receiving hearings in the House Health Committee. At least one committee member has commented on why there are two Schedule II bills (APN and PA) being heard in the committee. It is currently awaiting a third hearing in the House Health Committee.
SB111 (Oelslager) Health Care Assault – To increase the penalty for assault when the victim is a health care professional, health care worker or hospital security officer. OAPA is monitoring the bill which is awaiting third hearing in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.
SB121 (Patton) Physician Designation – To establish standards for physician designations by health care insurers. OAPA is monitoring the bill which is awaiting second hearing in the Senate Insurance Committee.
SB129 (Bacon) Medical Immunity – To grant civil immunity in compliance with EMTALA or as a result of a natural disaster. PAs are specified in the list of health care providers. OAPA supports and may try to amend to include medical director supervisory authority during a disaster. The bill is awaiting a 4th hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
SB141 (Gillmor, K) Medical Services – To authorize a licensed physician from another state to provide medical services to an out-of-state athletic team and accompanying individuals when the team is participating in a sporting event in Ohio. OAPA is considering asking the sponsor to include PAs. The bill has passed the Senate and is awaiting a first hearing in the House Health Committee.
SB228 (Burke, D) Nurse Anesthetists – To authorize CRNAs to issue medication orders for the administration of drugs to patients during certain phases of patient care and to specify the circumstances in which such nurses may perform clinical support functions. OAPA will monitor this bill which is awaiting its first hearing in the Senate Health Committee.
Please Contact Your Representative
It is important that the members of the House Health and Aging Committee hear from you urging them to support HB284.
Committee Members are Representatives:
Lynn Wachtmann, Chair Robert Hagan
Bruce Goodwin, Vice Chair Brian Hill
Lorraine Fende, Ranking Minority Richard Hollington
Nickie Antonio Jay Hottinger
John Barnes, Jr. Terry Johnson
John P. Carney Todd McKenney
Ted Celeste Dorothy Pelanda
Mike Duffey Dan Ramos
Nancy Garland Kirk Schuring
Randy Gardner Barbara Sears
Anne Gonzales (Co-Sponsor) Kenny Yuko
Robert Hackett
Click Here to find your Representative and see if he or she is on the Health Committee. Once on your Representative’s page, you can email or phone. Remember, if your Representative is not available, it is just as important to convey your message to his or her Aide.
What to Say:
You are a PA living in his or her district and would like to encourage her support of HB284. The bill will:
Allow PAs to provide care and treatment during times of natural disaster under the supervision of another physician.
Improve the process for amending the PA formulary in response to the Medical Board's desire to update the formulary in a more timely fashion.
Give PAs Schedule II prescriptive authority.
Exempt out of state PAs from the prescriptive provisional period when they already have prescriptive authority from another jurisdiction.
Allow PAs to bill Medicaid directly at a rate less than their supervising physician.
Tell him or her that HB 284 will increase the ability of your supervising physician to fully utilize you to serve patients in a timely and responsive manner.
Ask him or her if he would like more information on the profession and if he or she does, talk about what you do.
In closing, encourage him or her to support HB284.
OAPA cannot thank you enough for taking the time to make this important contact. Please contact the OAPA office if you have any questions or need assistance.
