WEST virginia legislature
2019 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2648
By Delegate Summers
[Introduced January 24, 2019; Referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §30-1-7a of the Code West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to continuing education for registered nurses and advanced nurse practitioners; exempting them from continuing education in drug diversion, controlled substance prescribing practices, and administration of opioid antagonists; exempting them from continuing education for screening veterans and families of veterans for signs of certain mental and emotional disorders; and removing the requirement for the Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses to establish requirements and criteria therefor.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL STATE BOARDS OF EXAMINATION OR REGISTRATION REFERRED TO IN CHAPTER.
§30-1-7a. Continuing education.
(a) A board referred to in this chapter shall establish continuing education requirements as a prerequisite to license renewal. A board shall develop continuing education criteria appropriate to its discipline, which shall include, but not be limited to, course content, course approval, hours required and reporting periods.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code or
the provision of a legislative rule to the contrary, each person issued a
license to practice medicine and surgery, a license to practice podiatry or
licensed as a physician assistant by the West Virginia Board of Medicine; each
person issued a license to practice dentistry by the West Virginia Board of
Dental Examiners, each person issued a license to practice optometry by the
West Virginia Board of Optometry, each person licensed as a pharmacist by the
West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, each person licensed to practice registered
professional nursing or licensed as an advanced nurse practitioner by the West
Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses each person
licensed as a licensed practical nurse by the West Virginia State Board of
Examiners for Licensed Practical Nurses and each person licensed to practice
medicine and surgery as an osteopathic physician and surgeon or licensed or
certified as an osteopathic as physician assistant by the West Virginia Board
of Osteopathy shall complete drug diversion training, best-practice prescribing
of controlled substances training and training on prescribing and
administration of an opioid antagonist, as the trainings are established by his
or her respective licensing board, if that person prescribes, administers or dispenses
a controlled substance, as that term is defined in §60A-1-101 of this code.
(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code or
the provision of any legislative rule to the contrary, the West Virginia Board
of Medicine, the West Virginia Board of Dental Examiners, the West Virginia
Board of Optometry, the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, the West Virginia
Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses the West Virginia
State Board of Examiners for Licensed Practical Nurses and the West Virginia
Board of Osteopathy shall establish continuing education requirements and
criteria appropriate to their respective discipline on the subject of drug
diversion training, best-practice prescribing of controlled substances training
and prescribing and administration of an opioid antagonist training for each
person issued a license or certificate by their respective board who
prescribes, administers or dispenses a controlled substance, as that term is
defined in §60A-1-101 of this code, and shall develop a certification form
pursuant to subdivision (b)(2) of this section.
(2) Each person who receives his or her initial license or certificate from any of the boards set forth in subsection (b) of this section shall complete the continuing education requirements set forth in subsection (b) of this section within one year of receiving his or her initial license from that board and each person licensed or certified by any of the boards set forth in subsection (b) of this section who has held his or her license or certificate for longer than one year shall complete the continuing education requirements set forth in subsection (b) of this section as a prerequisite to each license renewal: Provided, That a person subject to subsection (b) of this section may waive the continuing education requirements for license renewal set forth in subsection (b) of this section if he or she completes and submits to his or her licensing board a certification form developed by his or her licensing board attesting that he or she has not prescribed, administered or dispensed a controlled substance, as that term is defined in §60A-1-101 of this code, during the entire applicable reporting period.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code or
the provision of any legislative rule to the contrary, each person licensed
to practice registered professional nursing or licensed as an advanced nurse
practitioner by the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered
Professional Nurses each person licensed as a licensed practical nurse by
the West Virginia State Board of Examiners for Licensed Practical Nurses, each
person licensed to practice psychology by the Board of Examiners of
Psychologists, each person licensed to practice social work by the West
Virginia Board of Social Work and each person licensed to practice professional
counseling by the West Virginia Board of Examiners in Counseling shall complete
two hours of continuing education for each reporting period on mental health
conditions common to veterans and family members of veterans, as the continuing
education is established by his or her respective licensing board. In
cooperation with the Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Assistance, the
continuing education shall include training on inquiring about whether the patients
are veterans or family members of veterans, and screening for conditions such
as post-traumatic stress disorder, risk of suicide, depression and grief and
prevention of suicide. The two hours shall be part of the total hours of
continuing education required by each board and not two additional hours.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to exempt RNs and Advanced Nurse Practitioners from certain types of continuing education requirements.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.