Legislature(2021 - 2022)BARNES 124
04/10/2021 03:30 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority | |
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
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+ teleconferenced
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
April 10, 2021
3:33 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Liz Snyder, Co-Chair
Representative Tiffany Zulkosky, Co-Chair
Representative Ivy Spohnholz
Representative Mike Prax
Representative Christopher Kurka (via teleconference)
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Zack Fields
Representative Ken McCarty
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S):
State Medical Board
Steve Parker - Palmer
Maria Freeman - Wasilla
Lydia Mielke - Big Lake
David Boswell - Fairbanks
Richard Wein - Sitka
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
Sarah Bigelow Hood - Anchorage
Larry Daugherty - Anchorage
- SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
Rhonda Boyles - Anchorage
Brent Fisher - Anchorage
Annette Gwalthney-Jones - Anchorage
Anita Halterman - Eagle River
- CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
STEVE PARKER, MD, Appointee
State Medical Board
Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing
Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
Palmer, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the State Medical
Board.
MARIA FREEMAN, MD, Appointee
State Medical Board
Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing
Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
Wasilla, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the State Medical
Board.
LYDIA MIELKE, Appointee
State Medical Board
Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing
Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
Big Lake, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the State Medical
Board.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:33:34 PM
CO-CHAIR LIZ SNYDER called the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:33 p.m.
Representatives Prax, Spohnholz, Zulkosky, and Snyder were
present at the call to order. Representative Kurka (via
teleconference) arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
CONFIRMATION HEARING(S)
^State Medical Board
State Medical Board
^Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
3:34:25 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER announced that the only order of business would
be the confirmation hearings for the governor's appointees to
the State Medical Board [and the Alaska Health Trust Authority].
CO-CHAIR SNYDER provided a brief overview of the State Medical
Board. She noted that the governor appoints a board of medical
examiners to be known as the State Medical Board, consisting of
five physicians licensed in the state and residing in as many
separate geographical areas of the state as possible, one
physician assistant licensed under AS 08.64.107, and two persons
with no direct financial interest in the healthcare industry.
Duties include but are not limited to examining and issuing
licenses to applicants, developing written guidelines to ensure
that licensing requirements are not unreasonably burdensome,
imposing disciplinary sanctions on persons who violate the
regulations and orders of the board, and adopt regulations
ensuring that renewal of licenses are contingent on proof of
continued competency on the part of the licensee.
CO-CHAIR SNYDER invited appointee Dr. Steve Parker to provide
testimony stating why he is qualified and interested in serving
on the State Medical Board.
3:36:30 PM
STEVE PARKER, MD, Appointee, State Medical Board, Division of
Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, Department of
Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, testified as
appointee to the State Medical Board. He stated he has been a
private physician for the past 12 years, his medical training
was at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and
he served in the military for about 10 years and did his family
medical residency at Fort Bragg. Since then, he has been
employed, a solo physician, a hospitalist, a medical director
for a nursing home, and until recently did full spectrum family
practice with obstetrics.
DR. PARKER said his desire to be involved with the State Medical
Board stems from an interest in protecting patients from poor
practices, helping other physicians improve their practices, and
protecting his colleagues from bureaucratic overreach. Without
reasoned and measured response, he stated, Alaska can be made an
undesirable place for the varied specialists the state
desperately needs. A benefit that he brings to the board is his
exposure to medicine at the various levels and he has served on
many committees with similar goals to the State Medical Board.
Currently, he has had one year serving on the State Medical
Board.
3:38:16 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX offered his understanding that Dr. Parker
has served one year on the State Medical Board.
DR. PARKER replied yes.
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked whether Dr. Parker has been involved
in any disciplinary hearings of physicians.
DR. PARKER responded yes.
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX inquired about the qualities that are looked
for in a member of the State Medical Board.
DR. PARKER answered that a typical example is someone will
complain about a situation in their medical experience and will
present that complaint to the State Medical Board. It will be
investigated and then the board will review it to see if they
meet the standards based on the regulations of the regulatory
body of the medical board. If they are meeting all of those
standards, the board would just close the case. If they do not
meet those standards, the board would try to find an appropriate
disciplinary measure usually based on some precedent.
3:39:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked whether Dr. Parker owns or works
for Coho Family Medicine.
DR. PARKER replied that it is his private business.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked whether it is true that Coho
Family Medicine has sponsored Alaska Right to Life.
DR. PARKER responded yes.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ presumed that Dr. Parker is personally
anti-abortion.
DR. PARKER confirmed he is personally anti-abortion.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ noted that Alaska has a clear privacy
clause which guarantees the right to safe and legal abortion in
the state. She asked if Dr. Parker is comfortable separating
his personal beliefs about abortion from his responsibilities as
a State Medical Board member to ensure that regulations around
abortion continue to maintain safe and legal access in Alaska.
DR. PARKER replied that his personal views would not affect
whether he thought something was appropriate or inappropriate.
It would not be his place, he added, to say whether it was moral
or immoral but whether they acted professionally.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ stated that the most important standard
isn't just that they acted professionally but whether they acted
legally. She asked whether Dr. Parker agrees.
DR. PARKER responded that he agrees.
3:41:46 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked whether Dr. Parker can balance his time
between his business and the significant amount of time required
for being a State Medical Board member. She noted that over
2020 a significant amount of time was needed because of COVID-19
and data is being seen that there continues to be widespread
transmission of COVID-19 in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
DR. PARKER answered that he has so far, and that the commitment
has declined significantly. He related that early on the board
was meeting almost weekly but many of those issues are now taken
care of. In the future, even with more COVID-19, the issues
arising should be easier to work through.
3:43:24 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER requested examples of specific situations or
issues of bureaucratic overreach that are of greatest interest
to Dr. Parker.
DR. PARKER replied he views the State Medical Board as one of
the most dangerous things to a doctor's career. The board must
be very careful before doing any type of disciplinary action or
even a letter of advisement because those things add huge
hurdles to physicians later and then those things can
potentially snowball. For instance, if a doctor receives a non-
disciplinary action and then 10 years later forgets having had
this non-disciplinary action that can turn into a disciplinary
action in the future. So, even though the board at the time
didn't think the doctor was doing anything wrong and gives the
doctor a letter of advisement then the doctor can get
disciplinary action down the road which could potentially be
very damaging to that doctor's career. So, the board must be
very careful that anything it does to a physician, such that if
it's not going to have a significant benefit to that physician
or protect patients, the board should try not to do anything
because the burden on the physician can snowball, and no one
wants to work in a state where doctors have this unnecessary
burden that snowballs on them.
3:45:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ stated she understands the concern
about the impact that State Medical Board decisions, even
informal decisions, can have on somebody's career. She said the
State Medical Board has an obligation to ensure that physicians
are adhering to licensing requirements and that they are safe
and acting in the public's best interest. There have been some
well documented examples of physicians who have not adhered to
best practices, and it's been very dangerous to the state. An
example is physicians over-prescribing opioids which contributed
to opioid abuse in Alaska. She asked Dr. Parker to describe the
kinds of things he thinks are appropriate for the State Medical
Board to act on.
DR. PARKER responded that clearly it is a big issue when people
are not having good care with their opiate prescribing. Another
is if people are having serial complications of surgery that is
related to not having proper technique. Those kinds of things
are very actionable. He said his concerns are more along the
lines of paperwork issues where there is no benefit to the
patient yet potentially significant harm to the physician's
career. Patients being harmed or the potential for patient harm
are the things he would strongly encourage action on.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ requested Dr. Parker to give an example
of paperwork issues that have no impact on patient care that the
State Medical Board has identified in the past that concern him.
DR. PARKER answered that one of the biggest issues the State
Medical Board has right now is doctors registering for the
Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). About 50 percent
of the physicians are not registering for PDMP, so based on that
the board could literally discipline half the doctors in the
state, some of which prescribe very little or no opiates. The
doctors who are going to be registered with PDMP are probably
doctors who prescribe opiates multiple times a day. He said he
therefore believes the board potentially could be disciplining
doctors who very rarely prescribe opiates and are not likely to
be the cause or problem related to opiates, potentially harming
their careers without any significant benefit to patient safety.
3:49:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ related that the legislature felt
strongly enough about the issue of opioid prescription and over-
prescription that it passed several pieces of legislation,
mostly in 2016 and 2017, which were designed to reduce opioid
prescription and increase tracking of opioid prescription in the
state. She inquired whether Dr. Parker is suggesting that
participation in a state required PDMP is not a serious thing
for ensuring that it is being enforced.
DR. PARKER replied he does believe it is a serious thing and
agreed it's a good tool. He said approximately 50 percent of
the doctors in Alaska are not interested or not registering and
asked whether enforcing that on 50 percent of the doctors in
Alaska is wanted.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked what Dr. Parker would deem as an
appropriate remedy for people not participating in a state
required prescription drug monitoring database.
DR. PARKER responded that the best remedy is to show that it is
a useful program.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ inquired whether Dr. Parker thinks that
people should have to be persuaded to follow the law.
DR. PARKER answered, "I guess so because they're not." He
stated he is registered with the PDMP and uses it every time, so
he is not saying he is justifying what these people are doing.
But, he continued, in a very busy clinic this adds another two
to three minutes for each prescription a doctor writes and with
limited staffing this may make it almost impossible to see
patients in a timely manner. He related that while reviewing
the people who were giving information on that project he saw
very few physicians, so legislators may not have gotten enough
information from the people seeing these patients and who could
have given better information on how to get physicians involved.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ offered her belief that the legislature
added some flexibility to the PDMP to allow doctors to delegate
data entry into the PDMP to other staff working in their
offices. Having suggestions for how to make the PDMP compliance
process more streamlined is valid, but she is concerned by the
suggestion that participating in the Prescription Drug
Monitoring Program wouldn't be enforced, given the legislature
felt a need for this program to exist. She stated she finds it
deeply concerning that Dr. Parker would suggest that following
the law in this specific example is optional.
3:52:48 PM
DR. PARKER insisted he did not say that.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ said she thinks he did say that.
DR. PARKER responded that all he said was 50 percent of the
physicians and to follow that by rote would potentially take out
50 percent of the physicians working in Alaska. Any time there
is legislation the unintended consequences must be thought of,
and this is potentially a significant unintended consequence.
Several times at the State Medical Board he has presented
options for making the PDMP easier or less burdensome. Right
now, it is a significant burden to a doctor writing any number
of opiate prescriptions. It is also burdensome to enroll in it
because it's confusing and there is a lot of issues with
renewing it. It is far from a perfect situation.
CO-CHAIR SNYDER stated that it seems Dr. Parker has identified
some challenges with the PDMP system. She asked how, as someone
sitting on the State Medical Board, Dr. Parker would communicate
those concerns, to whom would he communicate those concerns, and
what would he like to see the outcome be, understanding and
acknowledging the problem that the law is not being followed by
nearly 50 percent of Alaska's physicians. While challenges have
been identified, she continued, the State Medical Board is here
to ensure that the licensees are following the laws. She
further asked what Dr. Parker's recommendations would be and how
he would act sitting on the board to address this problem.
DR. PARKER answered that at his clinic he has attempted to
integrate the PDMP with his own electronic records so that it
immediately pops up once he opens an opiate prescription for a
patient. He said he contacted the company the state works with
but had no success getting through to them, although he knows
certain people have that option. He suggested that if it was
integrated into electronic health records where it would just
pop up automatically, that's where the state might want to be
interacting with electronic health records to make this happen.
The best way to ensure that a doctor is checking it is to
absolutely force the doctor to do it. In a busy clinic, even if
registered, a doctor is going to miss from time to time, that's
just a reality. Also, Dr. Parker continued, the renewal process
is weird, it's different from the licensing process, and it's a
different process and different set of money that must be sent
in. [The board] has talked about getting that integrated so the
registration is automatic with the medical license so a doctor
can't do one without the other. If it's automatic, it's done.
If it's not automatic, it will lose a lot of people and lose a
lot of unchecked scripts.
3:57:51 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY offered her appreciation for Dr. Parker's
experience and perspective in the field with the PDMP. She
noted that the State Medical Board is responsible for the
licensing regulation and discipline of health care providers in
Alaska, not necessarily the setting of policy. She said she
respects Dr. Parker's position on the policy improvements that
can be made, such as the PDMP which could lead to paperwork
issues of physicians that may come before the board. She asked
whether Dr. Parker can separate his ideology on these policy
issues to uphold his responsibilities as a member of the State
Medical Board.
DR. PARKER asked what Co-Chair Zulkosky perceives as his
ideology.
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY recounted Dr. Parker mentioning that if a PDMP
related disciplinary action came before the board it may not
necessarily be something that should be considered for acting
on. She said Dr. Parker's responsibility on the State Medical
Board is to ensure that all the state's laws are being upheld.
She stated she would like to better understand Dr. Parker's
reference of maybe not holding somebody to laws that he might
feel are problematic.
DR. PARKER replied he can differentiate between his personal
views and doing what is required by regulation. He said the big
issue with the PDMP is that no one is complaining about people
not being registered in PDMP, so it's not going to come to the
board typically. The board is complaint based, so when a
patient complains it's usually not about whether his or her
doctor is checking to make sure that the patient is getting
opiates in only one place. There isn't a good way of pulling
out the physicians who are a problem with the PDMP. The board
is not designed to reach out and grab people, the complaint must
come to the board.
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY stated that that wasn't the question, but the
response is appreciated.
4:02:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA inquired about the reasons for why 50
percent of the doctors in Alaska are not complying with the
things they are supposed to report by law. He asked whether Dr.
Parker thinks those 50 percent are not complying because they
didn't have the time to do so, or are only doing a few opioid
[prescriptions], or not prescribing opioids at all.
DR. PARKER responded he is sure that pain doctors are registered
with the PDMP and that a pain doctor probably has a staff member
who acts as the doctor's delegate to provide the PDMP forms when
the doctor walks into the room and therefore the doctor doesn't
have to do anything extra. The people who will be gotten for
the PDMP are probably family practice, internal medicine,
private physicians, solo practices, those in the Bush, or those
serving smaller communities who rarely prescribe opiates. He
qualified that this is his perception, and he does not have any
studies or numbers on this. He added that it is mostly going to
hurt primary care if [the board] were to reach out and yank
those doctors.
REPRESENTATIVE KURKA said it seems Dr. Parker is identifying an
issue that the committee was unaware of where the legislature's
plan to tackle the opioid crisis is not being fully implemented
or working. He inquired whether Dr. Parker would be willing to
provide in writing some suggestions for how to solve this piece
of the problem.
DR. PARKER answered that the two options he just gave would
remedy the whole issue 1) Make it impossible to get a medical
license without also being registered in PDMP; and 2) Some type
of requirement for electronic health records used in Alaska to
automatically have the PDMP information appear once a controlled
substance prescription is opened or once the prescription part
of the program is opened for a patient. That would make it
impossible not to do the process and at the same time it would
take away all that burden. He explained that logging into PDMP
multiple times a day probably takes about 30 minutes of his day
if he is seeing a lot of patients of that nature.
4:08:39 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX offered his understanding that Dr. Parker
thinks that the regulation relative to the PDMP should be
enforced but on the other hand he would like an opportunity to
improve the regulation process so that it isn't a burden.
DR. PARKER replied, "Absolutely."
CO-CHAIR SNYDER noted that appointees Sarah Bigelow-Hood,
[Physician Assistant (PA)], and Larry Daughtery, [MD], are not
in attendance or online to testify. She invited appointee Dr.
Maria Freeman to provide testimony stating why she is qualified
and interested in serving on the State Medical Board.
4:09:33 PM
MARIA FREEMAN, MD, Appointee, State Medical Board, Division of
Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, Department of
Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, testified as
appointee to the State Medical Board. She stated she has been a
family medicine physician in Alaska for 27 years, the first four
years in Barrow, then seven years in Anchorage, and the last
sixteen years in the Mat-Su Valley area. Through her family
medicine practice in Wasilla, she serves many people, including
Medicare, Medicaid, and Tri-Care patients. Five and a half
years ago she developed a medication assisted treatment program
for opioid use disorders and patients with dependency. She
works at the Algone Interventional Pain Clinic and serves a
patient population with great needs and difficulties. She has
been involved with the Mat-Su Opioid Task Force, which is a
multi-disciplinary group. She related her religious activities.
DR. FREEMAN said she was invited to serve on the State Medical
Board and that it offers an opportunity to learn and to serve
her community of Alaska. She brings to the board over 30 years
of medical practice and experience and hopefully common sense.
Having joined the State Medical Board some months after her
colleagues, she has learned much about how the members interact
and address the issues and concerns that have been presented.
As well, she has appreciated the interaction with other interest
groups. She said she has the time for board duties as her
husband's three children are grown and live out of state.
4:12:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ offered her understanding that Dr.
Freeman is involved in medication assisted treatment for
substance abuse disorder.
DR. FREEMAN replied, "Correct."
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked whether Dr. Freeman does that via
distance.
DR. FREEMAN responded that it is in person.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ inquired about the kind of medication
assisted treatment that Dr. Freeman is doing.
DR. FREEMAN answered that currently two medications are being
used primarily, Suboxone and Vivitrol.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked how long Dr. Freeman has been
doing that work.
DR. FREEMAN replied that it has been for at least eight years
with five and a half years at Algone Group.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ recalled Dr. Freeman's mention of her
religious values. She asked if Dr. Freeman is anti-abortion.
DR. FREEMAN answered yes, she is personally anti-abortion.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ asked whether Dr. Freeman is aware that
Alaska has a strong right to privacy and that abortion is safe
and legal in the state.
DR. FREEMAN confirmed she does know that.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ inquired whether Dr. Freeman is
comfortable separating her personal beliefs about abortion from
her professional responsibility as a State Medical Board member
to ensure that abortion continues to be legal and accessible in
Alaska.
DR. FREEMAN answered she understands the regulations that have
been in place.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ inquired about Dr. Freeman's interest
in passing regulations to make it more difficult for women to
get a safe and legal abortion in Alaska.
DR. FREEMAN replied, "Not unless it's brought up."
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ requested clarification on what Dr.
Freeman means about her statement "not unless it's brought up."
DR. FREEMAN responded that if this question presented itself,
she would have certain personal beliefs but she is a
representative of the State Medical Board and so she will be
regulated by the board as opposed to her personal beliefs. She
said she can separate the two.
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ posed a scenario of regulations being
introduced that are designed to make it more difficult to
provide abortions in Alaska, which is a legally and
constitutionally required service in the state. She asked
whether Dr. Freeman would be able to separate her personal
beliefs that abortion is wrong and vote against those
regulations.
DR. FREEMAN answered that she believes she can.
CO-CHAIR SNYDER invited appointee Ms. Lydia Mielke to provide
testimony stating why she is qualified and interested in serving
on the State Medical Board.
4:16:13 PM
LYDIA MIELKE, Appointee, State Medical Board, Division of
Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, Department of
Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, testified as
appointee to the State Medical Board. She stated she has worked
in tourism for several summers and spent five sessions working
in the legislature. About a year and a half ago she graduated
with a bachelor's in business management. She took a gap year
to travel and spend time with family but was unable to do so
because of COVID-19. However, she was appointed to the State
Medical Board just over a year ago and was able to spend a
significant amount of time learning about the board and what it
does and jumping into her role as a public member. The board
had weekly meetings for quite a while and met more than any
other state board as the COVID-19 pandemic began. The board
stayed on top of things and passed emergency regulations to
ensure having the physicians needed to support Alaska during the
pandemic.
MS. MIELKE said she currently works for the Division of
Community and Regional Affairs as a local government specialist.
She related that during her time in the legislature, she learned
to do research, find solutions to problems, and communicate
effectively with others. That experience has now helped her on
the regulative side of things. She brings to the board a
younger voice and perspective to help balance things out. She
does her research for meetings and isn't afraid to ask
questions. She has learned a lot and will continue to learn for
however long she is on the board. Ms. Mielke added that she and
her family are consumers in Alaska, and she is excited for the
opportunity to continue to serve and help ensure public safety.
4:18:20 PM
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY asked what motivated Ms. Mielke to put her
name forward.
MS. MIELKE replied she is motivated by public service and the
opportunity to bring a voice for the consumer. She said she has
always been interested in the medical field and loves learning.
While she doesn't personally want to go into the field she
enjoys learning and serving Alaska and felt this was a good fit.
As a public member she wants to be an advocate and voice for
consumers. This past year has been a rewarding experience being
a part of making Alaska a great place for both physicians and
consumers.
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY requested Ms. Mielke to speak further
regarding her comment about approaching this work through a
public safety lens.
MS. MIELKE responded that as a public member she relies on her
colleagues for their expertise on the more technical aspects,
but she also wants to ensure that public safety and consumers
are protected. When the board is looking at a physician, she
thinks about whether the doctor is following the statutes and
how she would feel as a consumer of the medical field. She
wants to make sure she protects other consumers and be a voice
for them too.
4:20:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX offered his understanding that Ms. Mielke
was appointed to the State Medical Board about a year ago.
MS. MIELKE answered correct.
REPRESENTATIVE PRAX asked whether Ms. Mielke has a sense of the
types of complaints that are coming before the board.
MS. MIELKE replied that usually complaints come in and then the
board's investigative staff will do a quick overview to see if
anything is there and then forward the complaint to the
physicians on the board. Because she is a public member, she
has a more limited role in the disciplinary and complaint side
of things. Some of them are frivolous complaints against
physicians but the board ensures it thoroughly investigates them
all before taking any action or dismissing anything.
4:21:21 PM
The committee took a brief at-ease.
4:22:01 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER offered her appreciation for Ms. Mielke's desire
to serve on the State Medical Board to protect consumers. She
requested Ms. Mielke to elaborate on the types of protections
she is looking for and whether she heard them from community
members.
MS. MIELKE responded that a lot of times the physicians applying
to be licensed in Alaska will bring certain baggage with them,
so the board thoroughly inspects their background. Sometimes
they will have certain things on their record, such as sexual
allegations against them. As a consumer she looks at that and
thinks about whether she would feel comfortable being attended
to by this physician or her family seeing this physician, and
sometimes the answer is no. She reads the regulations and
statutes and their application, and sometimes she will say no to
approving a physician for licensing in Alaska because she cares
about the safety of herself and other Alaskans.
4:23:59 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SPOHNHOLZ noted that Ms. Mielke is a state
employee serving on a board, which seems atypical. She asked
whether Ms. Mielke received any guidance from the Department of
Law on the legality and whether there is a problem with the
Ethics Act with a state employee serving on a state board; for
example, state employees cannot run for office.
MS. MIELKE answered she has not heard of anything personally.
MS. MIELKE, responding to Co-Chair Snyder, stated that she is
from Big Lake.
4:25:29 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER opened public testimony on the appointees to the
State Medical Board. She closed public testimony after
ascertaining no one wished to testify.
4:25:54 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER expressed a desire to forward the appointees
names to the joint legislature.
CO-CHAIR ZULKOSKY noted that two appointees, Sarah Bigelow-Hood,
PA] and Larry Daugherty, MD did not participate in a hearing
before the committee; therefore, she questioned whether the
committee should forward their names at this time. She
explained she does not feel comfortable making a recommendation
to joint session without having heard from them in committee.
CO-CHAIR SNYDER concurred and said her intent is to forward the
names of only those that testified.
4:26:50 PM
CO-CHAIR SNYDER stated that the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee has reviewed the qualifications for the
governor's appointees to the State Medical Board and the Alaska
Mental Health Trust Authority, and recommends the following
names be advanced to a joint session for consideration: Lydia
Mielke, Maria Freeman, Steve Parker, David Boswell, and Richard
Wein for the State Medical Board; and Rhonda Boyles, Brent
Fisher, Annette Gwalthney-Jones, and Anita Halterman for the
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. [Testimonies of Boswell,
Wein, Boyles, Fisher, Gwalthney-Jones, and Halterman were heard
on 4/1/21.] She reminded committee members that this does not
reflect intent by any of the members to vote for or against any
of these appointees during any further sessions for the purposes
of confirmation.
4:29:03 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 4:29 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Maria Freeman Board Application_Redacted_ SMB.pdf |
HHSS 4/10/2021 3:30:00 PM |
HHSS Gov Appointees SMB |
| Mielke Resume_SMB.pdf |
HHSS 4/10/2021 3:30:00 PM |
HHSS Gov Appointees SMB |
| Bigelow Resume_SMB.pdf |
HHSS 4/10/2021 3:30:00 PM |
HHSS Gov Appointees SMB |
| Freeman Resume_SMB.pdf |
HHSS 4/10/2021 3:30:00 PM |
HHSS Gov Appointees SMB |
| Steve Parker Resume_SMB.pdf |
HHSS 4/10/2021 3:30:00 PM |
HHSS Gov Appointees SMB |
| HSS_Lydia Mielke Resume_Redacted.pdf |
HHSS 4/10/2021 3:30:00 PM |
HHSS Gov Appointees SMB |