View Daily Data Tracking History
View Bill Text
View Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact
S1376.................................................by HEALTH AND WELFARE
PATIENT FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - Adds to existing law to adopt a "Patient
Freedom of Information Act" to require disclosure of information about the
practice and history of physicians and surgeons, osteopathic physicians and
surgeons, physical therapists, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors,
optometric physicians, psychologists, physicians assistants, nurse
practitioners and certified registered nurse anesthetists.
01/30 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/02 Rpt prt - to Health/Wel
02/09 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/10 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/17 3rd rdg - PASSED - 31-2-2
AYES--Andreason, Boatright, Branch, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron,
Crow, Danielson, Darrington, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes, Hansen,
Hawkins, Ipsen, Keough, King, McLaughlin, Noh, Parry, Richardson,
Riggs, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder, Stennett, Sweeney, Thorne, Twiggs,
Wheeler
NAYS--Lee, Whitworth
Absent and excused--Ingram, Sorensen
Floor Sponsors - Ipsen, Bunderson
Title apvd - to House
02/18 House intro - 1st rdg - to Health/Wel
03/03 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/04 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/06 3rd rdg - PASSED - 63-3-4
AYES -- Alltus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bell, Bieter, Bivens,
Black(15), Black(23), Boe, Bruneel, Callister, Campbell, Chase,
Crane, Crow, Deal, Denney, Ellsworth, Field(13), Field(20), Gagner,
Gould, Hadley, Henbest, Hornbeck, Jaquet, Jones(9), Jones(22), Judd,
Kellogg, Kempton, Kjellander, Kunz, Lake, Linford, Loertscher, Mader,
Marley, McKague, Meyer, Miller, Mortensen, Newcomb, Pischner,
Pomeroy, Reynolds, Richman, Ridinger, Robison, Sali, Schaefer,
Stevenson, Stone, Stubbs, Taylor, Tilman, Tippets, Trail, Watson,
Wheeler, Wood, Zimmermann, Mr Speaker
NAYS -- Geddes, Kendell, Stoicheff
Absent and excused -- Clark, Cuddy, Hansen, Jones(20)
Floor Sponsors - Simpson, Reynolds
Title apvd - to Senate
03/09 To enrol
03/10 Rpt enrol - Pres signed
03/10 Sp signed
03/11 To Governor
03/16 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 33
Effective: 07/01/98
S1376|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session - 1998IN THE SENATE SENATE BILL NO. 1376 BY HEALTH AND WELFARE COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO PATIENT FREEDOM OF INFORMATION; AMENDING TITLE 54, IDAHO CODE, BY 3 THE ADDITION OF A NEW CHAPTER 45, TITLE 54, IDAHO CODE, TO ADOPT THE 4 PATIENT FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, TO PROVIDE A DECLARATION OF PURPOSE, 5 TO DEFINE TERMS, TO REQUIRE PATIENT ACCESS TO SPECIFIED INFORMATION, AND 6 TO PROVIDE FOR IMPLEMENTATION AND ACCESS TO PROVIDER PROFILE INFORMATION. 7 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 8 SECTION 1. That Title 54, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby amended 9 by the addition thereto of a NEW CHAPTER , to be known and desig- 10 nated as Chapter 45, Title 54, Idaho Code, and to read as follows: 11 CHAPTER 45 12 PATIENT FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 13 54-4501. DECLARATION OF PURPOSE. In recognition of the importance of 14 health care to all Idahoans, it is the intent of the legislature to provide 15 patients with easily accessible profile information on specified licensed or 16 registered health care professionals. By creating a database of individual 17 profiles that the public may access, patients will be able to make more 18 informed decisions about whom they wish to engage when in need of health care 19 services. The database should include educational background and work history, 20 disclosure of any final board disciplinary actions, criminal convictions, mal- 21 practice history, and other pertinent information as required by this chapter. 22 The following licensed and registered professional health care providers are 23 subject to this chapter: physicians and surgeons and osteopathic physicians 24 and surgeons, physical therapists, dentists, podiatrists, chiropractors, opto- 25 metric physicians, psychologists, physicians' assistants, nurse practitioners, 26 and certified registered nurse anesthetists. 27 54-4502. DEFINITIONS. As used in this chapter, the following terms have 28 the following meaning: 29 (1) "Board" means the professional licensing and registration board, 30 respectively, for each of the named providers. 31 (2) "Patient" means all past, current or future consumers of health care 32 services. 33 (3) "Provider(s)" means the following licensed or registered professional 34 health care providers: podiatrists licensed pursuant to chapter 6, title 54, 35 Idaho Code; chiropractors licensed pursuant to chapter 7, title 54, Idaho 36 Code; dentists licensed pursuant to chapter 9, title 54, Idaho Code; nurse 37 practitioners and certified registered nurse anesthetists licensed or regis- 38 tered pursuant to chapter 14, title 54, Idaho Code; optometric physicians 39 licensed pursuant to chapter 15, title 54, Idaho Code; physicians and surgeons 40 and osteopathic physicians and surgeons, licensed pursuant to chapter 18, 41 title 54, Idaho Code; physicians' assistants registered pursuant to chapter 2 1 18, title 54, Idaho Code; physical therapists registered pursuant to chapter 2 22, title 54, Idaho Code; and psychologists licensed pursuant to chapter 23, 3 title 54, Idaho Code. 4 54-4503. PATIENT ACCESS TO PROVIDER INFORMATION. (1) Each person who 5 applies for initial licensure or registration as a provider must, at the time 6 of application, and each provider who applies for license or registration 7 renewal must, in conjunction with the renewal of a license or registration, 8 and under procedures which shall be adopted by the board, and in addition to 9 any other information that may be required from the applicant, furnish the 10 following information to the board: 11 (a) Names and addresses of medical/professional schools or other institu- 12 tions of higher learning that provider attended, including any graduate 13 education, and dates of graduation; 14 (b) Speciality certifications that are recognized by the board; 15 (c) Appointments to faculty of any medical/professional school and indi- 16 cation whether provider has had a responsibility for graduate education 17 within the most recent ten (10) years (optional); 18 (d) Location and type of practice for the most recent ten (10) years; 19 (e) Current location of provider's primary practice setting, and if more 20 than one (1) setting, the approximate percentage of time spent at each 21 location; 22 (f) The hospital(s) that serves as the provider's primary admitting 23 facility and at which the provider has active clinical privileges in good 24 standing; 25 (g) Disclosure of whether the provider participates in medicaid and medi- 26 care programs (but not necessarily accepting new patients), or has ever 27 been barred from participation in either program; 28 (h) Disclosure of any translating services that may be available at the 29 provider's practice location(s) (optional); 30 (i) Description of any criminal convictions for felonies or other crimes 31 of moral turpitude within the most recent ten (10) years. For purposes of 32 this subsection, a person shall be deemed convicted of a crime if he pled 33 guilty or if he was found or adjudged guilty by a court of competent 34 jurisdiction; 35 (j) Description of any final board disciplinary actions within the most 36 recent ten (10) years that are considered to be public in accordance with 37 the provisions of chapter 3, title 9, Idaho Code; 38 (k) Description of any final disciplinary actions by a board from any 39 other state including, but not limited to, revocation or suspension of 40 license, within the most recent ten (10) years; 41 (l) Description of revocation or involuntary restriction of hospital 42 privileges, or a reduction in credentialing for more than one hundred 43 eighty (180) days, from any state, for reasons related to competence or 44 character, that have been taken by a hospital's governing body or any 45 other official of a hospital after procedural due process has been 46 afforded; or the resignation from or nonrenewal of a medical staff member- 47 ship, or the restriction of privileges at a hospital taken in lieu of or 48 in settlement of a pending disciplinary case related to competence or 49 character in that hospital, within the most recent ten (10) years; 50 (m) Whether the provider carries professional malpractice insurance, and 51 if not, has ever been denied malpractice insurance; 52 (n) Disclosure of all malpractice court judgments and all malpractice 53 arbitration awards in which a payment was awarded to a complaining party 54 during the most recent ten (10) years. Pending malpractice claims shall 3 1 not be disclosed by the board to patients; however, nothing herein shall 2 be construed to prevent the board from investigating and disciplining a 3 provider on the basis of pending malpractice claims. 4 (o) Disclosure of settlements of professional malpractice claims within 5 the most recent five (5) years of continuous practice; 6 (i) Providers need only disclose malpractice settlements if there 7 have been five (5) or more settlements in the most recent five (5) 8 years of continuous practice, of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or 9 more, per settlement, or if there have been more than ten (10) set- 10 tlements within the most recent five (5) years of continuous practice 11 of any dollar amount; 12 (ii) Settlements that result solely in an adjustment to the fee 13 charged for a provider's services shall not be disclosed pursuant to 14 this chapter; 15 (iii) Information concerning all settlements shall be accompanied by 16 the following statement: "Settlement of a claim may occur for a vari- 17 ety of reasons which do not necessarily reflect negatively on the 18 professional competence or conduct of a provider. A payment in set- 19 tlement of a malpractice action or claim should not be construed as 20 creating presumption that malpractice has occurred. Malpractice his- 21 tories tend to vary by speciality. Some specialities are more likely 22 than others to be the subject of litigation."; 23 (iv) Nothing herein shall be construed to limit or prevent the board 24 from providing further explanatory information regarding settlements; 25 (p) Percentage of ownership interest provider has in other health facili- 26 ties, laboratories, equipment or therapy, except for ownership interest in 27 the primary practice business, to which the provider's patients are, have 28 been, or may be referred. 29 (2) Each profile submitted by a provider must include a statement, signed 30 under oath, by the provider attesting to the correctness and completeness of 31 the information contained in the profile. 32 (3) The board shall not be held liable for the correctness or complete- 33 ness of the information contained in the provider profiles, and shall include 34 a disclaimer statement on all released profiles, attesting to the self- 35 reporting nature of the program, and that the information has not been veri- 36 fied by the board. 37 (4) The board shall, at the time of issuing a new license or registra- 38 tion, or in conjunction with license or registration renewal, collect and 39 maintain the information required in this chapter, as submitted by the pro- 40 vider, for the purpose of creating individual profiles on providers that shall 41 be made available to the public as provided in this chapter. 42 (5) No state law that would otherwise prohibit, limit, or penalize dis- 43 closure of information about a provider shall apply to disclosure of informa- 44 tion required by this chapter. 45 (6) If a provider fails to comply with the provisions of this chapter 46 with full and truthful disclosure of information to the board within the time 47 specified by the board, the board may: 48 (a) Fine the provider up to fifty dollars ($50.00) for each day that the 49 provider is not in compliance with the provisions of this chapter; 50 (b) Take any other disciplinary action it deems appropriate, except the 51 board may not revoke, suspend, refuse to issue or refuse to renew a 52 provider's license or registration solely because the provider failed to 53 comply with the provisions of this chapter. 54 54-4504. INFORMATION AND ACCESS TO PROVIDER PROFILE INFORMATION. The 4 1 boards and providers subject to the provisions of this chapter shall inform 2 the public that provider profile information is available and make the infor- 3 mation available upon request. 4 The boards and providers shall fully implement the provisions of this 5 chapter no later than January 1, 2000. 6 The boards and providers shall be responsible for promoting public aware- 7 ness of and access to provider profiles as provided in this chapter, which 8 shall include the creation of printed materials and signs to be available in 9 board and provider offices. Profile information on individual providers shall 10 be available at the office(s) of the provider, and their respective board, in 11 written form, upon request, and electronically where available, and shall be 12 considered public information.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 07715
The purpose of this bill is to provide health care consumers
with a reliable and easily accessible source of information
on specified Idaho health care providers. A patient's
selection of a health care provider is one of the more
important decisions they make when accessing health care
services. This legislation will allow patients to make more
informed health care decisions when selecting a provider, as
opposed to relying solely on the opinions of others or
simple random chance. The Patient Freedom of Information Act
would provide patients with the opportunity to review
professional profiles on health care providers while
evaluating their own personal experiences, priorities and
needs.
The bill will require specified health care providers to
submit professional profiles, as detailed in the
legislation, at the time they apply for licensure in Idaho,
or make their application for license renewal. The
information would be collected and maintained by the
providers' respective licensing boards and would be made
available to consumers upon request.
FISCAL NOTE
There will be no impact to the General Fund. Licensing fees
paid by the affected health care providers to their
respective state licensing boards will increase by
approximately 5 - 15%.
CONTACT: Senator Grant R. Ipsen 332-1330
Dawn Justice
Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry
343-1849
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE
Bill No S1376