CHAIRMAN RIEGER called the Senate Health, Education and Social                
 Services (HESS) Committee to order at 1:55 p.m.  He introduced                
  SB 298  (LICENSING OF PHYSICIANS) as the first order of business             
 before the committee.                                                         
                                                                               
 D. R. LEHMANN, President of the Alaska State Medical Association              
 (ASMA) and a family practitioner, stated that SB 298 is a good bill           
 that can be improved upon.  He discussed an example that                      
 illustrates that the current system requiring interviews for                  
 medical licensure is a burden, especially in rural areas where                
 there are not members representing the State Medical Board.  The              
 licensure interview tends to last less than five minutes.  He                 
 explained that SB 298 should correct much of the licensure problems           
 by allowing the board's designated representative to conduct the              
 licensure interview.  He suggested changing "shall" to "may" on               
 page 1, line 4, which would allow the board to collect all                    
 necessary data for screening applicants.  If everything was in                
 order after the data collection, the interview could be omitted.              
 He pointed out that omitting the interview was not a radically new            
 approach; only twenty-two states of the fifty-three state entities            
 require interviews.  Omitting the interview or having it at the               
 board's discretion would allow the board more time to fulfill                 
 disciplinary and investigatory functions.  He said that the                   
 interviews do not seem to serve any major purpose.                            
                                                                               
 Number 095                                                                    
                                                                               
 ROY BOX, optometrist, stated that he was present to testify on an             
 amendment to SB 298 that would be similar to section 3 of HB 507.             
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN informed everyone that the amendment to be offered              
 was in their packet.                                                          
                                                                               
 ROY BOX explained that the proposed amendment would allow the                 
 Optometry Board to allow locum tenens licenses to optometrists in             
 the state.  The locum tenens license would basically operate the              
 same as the Medical Board's locum tenens license.  A locum tenens             
 is a licensed temporary doctor who fills in for a practicing                  
 doctor.  The practicing doctor would be responsible for the                   
 temporary or locum tenens doctor.  He pointed out that locum tenens           
 are needed since there are only about fifty practicing optometrists           
 and of those about forty are in private practice.  This amendment             
 would allow specialty care from visiting doctors, as well as                  
 allowing a solution for ill or vacationing doctors in small towns.            
                                                                               
 SENATOR SHARP set aside SB 298.