SCS/SB 305 - This act creates the "Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Quality Assurance Act". Any person administering medical imaging and radiation therapy procedures is required to be licensed by the newly created Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Board of Examiners. Such Board shall be located within the division of professional registration. The act exempts resident physicians, and those enrolled in schools of medicine, dentistry, chiropractic, podiatry, dental hygiene, medical imaging, or radiation therapy who are under supervision of a licensee, and persons licensed to practice medicine, dentistry, podiatry, chiropractic, osteopathy veterinary medicine, or as a nurse or dental hygienist from licensure. Certain education and experience requirements are enacted for applicants to be licensed as radiographers, radiation therapists, and nuclear medicine technologists. The act contains a grandfather provision that authorizes persons who have been practicing full-time in three of the past five years to waive the examination and education requirements.
Medical facilities, dental facilities, educational institutions and other public and private institutions wishing to offer programs in medical imaging and radiation therapy must meet certain requirements of the Board. The Board is granted additional powers to adopt rules, give examinations, issue temporary licenses, require continuing education as part of the license renewal, and to discipline licensees. The act both requires the board in some instances and gives the board discretion in other instances to waive the examination, depending on the certification an applicant may possess.
The Board shall investigate complaints, file charges, hold hearings, render judgements and hear appeals when warranted to seek discipline of a licensee. Further, the Board is granted subpoena power for the appearance of witnesses.
The act creates the "Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Board of Examiners Fund" which shall receive all fees collected by the board. The act provides that none of the licensing requirements will take effect until such time as the board receives a specific appropriation and initial rules have been promulgated.
The act requires sonographers and vascular technologists who, as Medicaid providers, provide ultrasounds to be credentialed by certain national organizations. They must also perform under the supervision of a licensed physician.
Any violation of this act shall be a Class A misdemeanor.
This act is similar to SB 1236 (2004) SCS/SB 64 (2005), SCS/SB 897 (2006), and HCS/HB 1090 (2006).
CHRIS HOGERTY