Legislature(2023 - 2024)DAVIS 106
03/21/2023 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s): Department of Family and Community Services | |
| HB57 | |
| HB46 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | HB 57 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | HB 46 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
HB 57-EMERGENCY MED. SVCS: REVIEW ORGANIZATIONS
4:02:06 PM
CHAIR PRAX announced that the next order of business would be
HOUSE BILL NO. 57, "An Act relating to review organizations and
permitting an emergency medical services provider to establish a
review organization; and relating to patient records."
4:02:31 PM
REPRESENTATIVE STANLEY WRIGHT, Alaska State Legislature, as
prime sponsor, paraphrased the sponsor statement [copy in the
committee packet], which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
House Bill 57 gives EMS agencies protections for peer
review activities.
Peer review is an intensive self-evaluation process
used within healthcare organizations in order to
continuously monitor and improve patient care. Peer
review activities are non-discoverable this
important protection is provided by states to
healthcare organizations to establish an environment
conducive to improvement, without fear of discovery
and litigation. The current status provides a chilling
effect on the openness and educational process that
EMS peer review provides.
This proposed legislation will promote candor and
objectivity in EMS system review and discussion. It is
essential that allowing EMS medical practitioners to
frankly discuss care and conduct in a confidential
setting, without worry about external access to the
information, would enhance the quality of pre-hospital
medical practice.
Past legal decisions have asserted that the existing
statutory provisions which provide this protection to
medical facilities, institutions, or hospital
governing bodies and their committees, provide the
same protections to emergency medical services (EMS)
and fire-based pre-hospital agencies. This is an
untested theory and places pre-hospital medical
agencies in an unprotected status which other entities
enjoy.
HB 57 changes the definition of "review organization"
to include EMS groups who perform quality improvement
functions. By doing so, they are afforded equitable
immunity and confidentiality protection that hospitals
and other healthcare workers enjoy. Peer review
protection is essential if Alaska's EMS systems are to
be used to their maximum potential. Passage of this
legislation enhances the safety of the public and the
educational process for EMS through the peer review
program.
4:04:35 PM
PI RIORDAN-RANDALL, Staff, Representative Stanley Wright, Alaska
State Legislature, on behalf of Representative Wright, prime
sponsor of HB 57, gave the sectional analysis [copy included in
the committee packet], which read as follows [original
punctuation provided]:
Section I:
Amends AS 18.23.070(1) to Include EMT's, dispatchers,
and paramedics in the definition of "health care
provider" for the purpose of peer review protection.
Section II:
Amends the definition of "healthcare provider" in AS
18.23.070(3) to include EMS agencies and employees who
are conducting peer review activities.
Section III:
AS 18.23.070(5) is amended to include emergency
medical services agencies and employees under the
definition of a "review organization"
4:07:28 PM
BRIAN WEBB, representing self, provided invited testimony on HB
57. He referred to his written testimony [copy included in the
committee packet]. He noted that he has previously spoken to
the importance of recruitment and retention of medical directors
for emergency medical services (EMS), and he called HB 57 a
request to provide protections to these services. He stated
that EMS committees not only review patient care activities but
also openly challenge medical directors and training officers to
defend the care given. He said that the proposed legislation
would just be asking the legislature to provide a level of
equity in statute for EMS.
4:12:18 PM
JOSEPH LIVENGOOD, MD, representing self, provided invited
testimony on HB 57. He shared that he is an acute care surgeon
who works in Fairbanks and Ketchikan, serving as the EMS
director for several agencies. He said that HB 57 would clarify
that EMS agencies are covered under the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) privacy rules. He
stated that these rules allow patient information to be shared
for the purpose of quality management, and the proposed
legislation would allow discussions to occur without the context
being misconstrued during an outside review. He relayed to
members that such protections are in place already for hospitals
and clinics, but not for EMS.
4:14:39 PM
REPRESENTATIVE MINA noted that podiatrists are not included in
the statute. She asked whether the "chilling effect happening
with quality assurance for EMS" is happening with podiatry.
MR. WEBB answered that in 2015, podiatrists had the same
concerns as EMS. He said that there was an amendment to the
original bill adding podiatrists, and it was decided during the
drafting that this would be left in.
4:15:55 PM
CHAIR PRAX announced that HB 57 was held over.