COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 526
(By Senators Foster, Stollings and Laird)
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[Originating in the Committee on Government Organization;
reported March 19, 2009.]
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A BILL 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 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
shall be 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
certificate
of 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
certificate of 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
certificate of license.
§30-14-2. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article:
(a) "
Approved Accredited osteopathic college"
shall mean 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
a standard an accredited
college of arts and sciences
of equal rank with the college of arts
and sciences of West Virginia University, and which requires for
graduation a
four-year course of
nine months each study approved by
the board in accordance with the minimum standards established by the American Osteopathic Association;
"Approved hospital for intern training" shall mean a hospital
approved for intern training by the board or by the hospital
accrediting agency of 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"
shall mean 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"
shall mean 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"
shall mean means a duly
authenticated
certificate verification of the board, addressed to
a board or agency of another country, state, territory, province or the District of Columbia, vouching that a
certificate of 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
., accompanied by
(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:
(a) (1) That The applicant is eighteen years of age or over;
(b) (2) That The applicant is of good moral character;
(c) (3) That The applicant has graduated from an
approved
accredited osteopathic college;
(d) (4) That The applicant has
submitted a letter of
verification from an AOA approved hospital stating that he has been
approved for an AOA approved internship or that the applicant is
currently in an AOA approved internship, if internship has not
already been completed; 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.
(e) that the applicant has paid to the board a reasonable fee,
the amount of such reasonable fee to be set by the board rules.
(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 be written and oral
and 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.
and this The list of subjects may be expanded or
regrouped at the discretion of the board.
The board shall issue certificates of license to all
applicants who shall successfully pass the said examination and
shall present evidence showing that they have served an internship
in a hospital approved by the AOA for intern training. The board
shall also examine the application of any one or more osteopathic
physicians or surgeons for the formation of an osteopathic medical
corporation, filed pursuant to the provisions of section nine-a of
this article, and issue a certificate of authorization therefor to
any applicant or applicants legally entitled to receive the same.
The board shall also have authority to authorize osteopathic
medical corporations, in accordance with the provisions of sections nine-a and nine-b of this article, to practice osteopathic medicine
and surgery through duly licensed osteopathic physicians and
surgeons.
The board shall have the power to certify and establish
standards for employment of assistants to osteopathic physicians
and surgeons.
No license shall be issued under the provisions of this
section until the person applying therefor shall have paid to the
board a fee of five dollars.
§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
approved 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
certificates of license licenses to
practice as osteopathic physicians and surgeons in this state shall
renew
them the licenses biennially on or before July 1, by the
payment of a
reasonable renewal fee,
the amount of such reasonable
fee to be set by the board rules to the
secretary of the board.
The
secretary of the board shall notify each
certificate holder by
mail licensee of the necessity of renewing his or her
certificate
license at least thirty days prior to
July 1, of each year the
expiration of the license.
(b) As a prerequisite to renewal of a
certificate of license
issued by the board, each
holder of such a certificate licensee
shall furnish biennially to the
secretary of the board satisfactory
evidence of having completed thirty-two hours of educational
refresher course training, of which the total amount of hours must
be
AOA 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
certificate of 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
certificate of license on an inactive basis.
(d) A
certificate of license suspended by a failure to make a
biennial renewal thereof may be reinstated by the board upon
compliance of the
certificate holder 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
certificate holder suspended licensee
maintained his or her
certificate license in good standing; and
(3) Payment to the board of a
reasonable reinstatement fee
the
amount of such reasonable fee to be set by the board rules
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.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to revise requirements for
post doctoral training as a requirement for licensure as an
osteopathic physician. Current definitions in section two have
been alphabetized.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)