ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 526
(Senators Foster, Stollings and Laird, original sponsors)
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[Passed April 7, 2009; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §30-14-1, §30-14-2, §30-14-4, §30-14-5,
§30-14-6 and §30-14-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, all relating to the regulation of osteopathy;
defining terms; revising requirements for post-doctoral
training as a requirement for licensure; providing for
educational permits for post-doctoral clinical training;
authorizing the promulgation of an emergency legislative rule;
eliminating redundant language regarding licenses,
internships, formation of medical corporations and fees; and
defining the scope and duration of educational permits.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §30-14-1, §30-14-2, §30-14-4, §30-14-5, §30-14-6 and
§30-14-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. OSTEOPATHIC PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
§30-14-1. License required.
It is unlawful for any person to practice or offer to practice
medicine and surgery as an osteopathic physician and surgeon in
this state without a license or permit issued by the West Virginia
Board of Osteopathy:
Provided, That any license heretofore issued
under the laws of this state, authorizing its holder to practice
osteopathy and surgery, shall in no way be affected by the
enactment of this article; except that the holder of every such
license shall be subject to all of the provisions of this article
respecting the requirements and obligations herein prescribed for
the continuance in force of such license.
§30-14-2. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article:
(a) " Accredited osteopathic college" means a college of
osteopathy and surgery which requires as a minimum prerequisite for
admission preprofessional training of at least two years of
academic work in specified scientific subjects, as prescribed by
the board or by the college accrediting agency of the American
Osteopathic Association, in an accredited college of arts and
sciences and which requires for graduation a course of study
approved by the board in accordance with the minimum standards
established by the American Osteopathic Association;
(b) "Approved program of post-graduate clinical training"
means a program of clinical training approved by, or subject of
approval by, the American Osteopathic Association or approved by
the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for the
purposes of intern or resident training;
(c) "Board" means the West Virginia Board of Osteopathy;
(d) "License" means legal authorization issued by the board to
a fully qualified osteopathic physician to engage in the regular
practice of osteopathic medicine and surgery;
(e) "Osteopathy" means that system of the healing art which
places the chief emphasis on the structural integrity of the body
mechanism as being the most important single factor in maintaining
the well-being of the organism in health and disease;
(f) "Permit" means a limited, legal authorization issued by
the board to an osteopathic physician to practice osteopathic
medicine and surgery in this state while serving under special
circumstances of public need or while undergoing post-graduate
clinical training as a prerequisite to licensure;
(g) "Reciprocal endorsement" means a duly authenticated
verification of the board, addressed to a board or agency of
another country, state, territory, province or the District of
Columbia, vouching that a license issued to an osteopathic
physician and surgeon pursuant to the laws of this state is
currently valid and not suspended or revoked for any cause or
causes specified in this article.
§30-14-4. Application for license or educational permit.
(a) Each applicant for examination by the board, with the
exception of assistants to osteopathic physicians and surgeons, as
hereinafter provided, shall submit an application therefor on forms
prepared and furnished by the board.
(b) Each applicant for a license shall furnish evidence, verified by oath and satisfactory to the board, establishing that
the applicant has satisfied the following requirements:
(1) The applicant is eighteen years of age or over;
(2) The applicant is of good moral character;
(3) The applicant has graduated from an accredited osteopathic
college;
(4) The applicant has successfully completed either of the
following:
(A) A minimum of one year of post-doctoral, clinical training
in a program approved by the American Osteopathic Association; or
(B) A minimum of one year of post-doctoral, clinical training
in a program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate
Medical Education and forty hours of continuing medical education
in osteopathic manipulative medicine and osteopathic manipulative
treatment in courses approved, and classified as Category 1A, by
the American Osteopathic Association.
(c) Each applicant for an educational permit shall furnish
evidence, verified by oath and satisfactory to the board,
establishing that the applicant has satisfied the following
requirements:
(1) The applicant is eighteen years of age or over;
(2) The applicant is of good moral character;
(3) The applicant has graduated from an accredited osteopathic
college; and
(4) The applicant is under contract as an intern or resident
in an approved program of post-graduate clinical training.
(d) The board may not issue a license or permit to any person
until the applicant has paid the application fee established by
legislative rule of the board.
(e) In order to give timely effect to the amendments to this
section and section ten of this article, the board is authorized to
propose a legislative rule consistent with these amendments as an
emergency rule under the provisions of section fifteen, article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
§30-14-5. Examination.
In order to receive a license to practice osteopathic medicine
and surgery, an applicant must satisfactorily complete a standard,
national examination, specified through legislative rule of the
board or an examination administered by the licensing authority of
another state and approved by the board as equivalent to the
national examination or to the former West Virginia state
examination.
The examination for a license to practice medicine and surgery
as an osteopathic physician and surgeon shall cover substantive and
clinical knowledge in all the essential branches of medicine and
surgery including anatomy, physiology, chemistry, pharmacology,
pathology, public health--preventive medicine, surgery, obstetrics
and gynecology, osteopathic medicine, materia medica principles and
practice of osteopathy. The list of subjects may be expanded or
regrouped at the discretion of the board.
§30-14-6. Issuance of license without examination; fee.
The board may at its discretion issue a license without
examination to an applicant who has been licensed by the national
board of examiners for osteopathic physicians and surgeons, and to
an applicant who has been licensed by examination in any country,
state, territory, province or the District of Columbia, provided
the requirements for licensure in the country, state, territory,
province or the District of Columbia in which the applicant is
licensed are deemed by the board to have been equivalent to
requirements for licensure in this state at the date such license
was issued. The board may also at its discretion issue a license
without examination to an osteopathic physician and surgeon who is
a graduate of an accredited osteopathic college and who has passed
the examination for admission into the medical corps of any of the
armed services of the United States or the United States public
health service. But no license shall be issued under the
provisions of this section until the person applying therefor shall
have paid to the board a reasonable fee, the amount of such
reasonable fee to be set by the board rules, and any other fees
applicable to investigation.
§30-14-10. Renewal of license; fee; refresher training a
prerequisite; effect of failure to renew; reinstatement;
educational permit.
(a) All holders of licenses to practice as osteopathic
physicians and surgeons in this state shall renew the licenses
biennially on or before July 1, by the payment of a renewal fee, to the board. The board shall notify each licensee of the necessity
of renewing his or her license at least thirty days prior to the
expiration of the license.
(b) As a prerequisite to renewal of a license issued by the
board, each licensee shall furnish biennially to the board
satisfactory evidence of having completed thirty-two hours of
educational refresher course training, of which the total amount of
hours must be approved by the American Osteopathic Association, and
fifty percent of the required thirty-two hours shall be classified
as category (1).
(c) The failure to renew a license shall operate as an
automatic suspension of the rights and privileges granted by its
issuance. The board may propose rules for legislative approval,
pursuant to the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a
of this code, providing that an osteopathic physician may renew a
license on an inactive basis.
(d) A license suspended by a failure to make a biennial
renewal thereof may be reinstated by the board upon compliance of
the licensee with the following requirements:
(1) Presentation to the board of satisfactory evidence of
educational refresher training of quantity and standard approved by
the board for the previous two years;
(2) Payment of all fees for the previous two years that would
have been paid had the suspended licensee maintained his or her
license in good standing; and
(3) Payment to the board of a reinstatement fee specified by legislative rule of the board.
(e) An educational permit authorizes the holder to practice
osteopathic medicine and surgery only for work performed within an
approved program of post-graduate clinical training under the
supervision of a duly licensed osteopathic or allopathic physician.
The first educational permit issued to a graduate of an accredited
osteopathic college may be valid for a period of fifteen months and
subsequent educational permits issued to the same person may be
valid for not more than twelve months. An educational permit shall
expire upon the termination of the permit holder from an approved
program of post-graduate clinical training and may also be
suspended or revoked by the board at any time upon grounds defined
by the board by legislative rule.