SCS/SB 303 - This act modifies disciplinary and administrative procedure provisions that apply to professions and businesses licensed by the Division of Professional Registration or by any board committee, commission or office within the Division of Professional Registration. The act also modifies the licensing requirements and disciplinary powers of the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts. If a person who is licensed by any board, committee, commission, or office under the Division of Professional Registration does not defend against a disciplinary proceeding, the appropriate board or the Administrative Hearing Commission is required to enter a default decision against the person. The board or the Administrative Hearing Commission may set aside the default decision for good cause if the person files a motion within thirty days after the default decision.
Evidence contesting the basis of a criminal conviction or disciplinary action from another state will not be admissible in an administrative hearing.
The Administrative Hearing Commission is required to deliver the findings of fact and conclusions of law in disciplinary cases to the appropriate agency within one hundred and twenty days of the date the case became ready for decision.
BOARD OF REGISTRATION FOR THE HEALING ARTS
The Board of Registration for the Healing Arts is authorized to list certain information about individuals who are licensed by the board and applicants for licenses from the board on its website. The board is also required to disclose confidential information to applicants for licenses and licensees without a fee, if the information is less than five years old.
The board is no longer authorized to require doctors licensed in other states to take certain examinations prior to waiving the Missouri examination requirement. The board is authorized to require another examination, more education, or further training before issuing a permanent medical license to applicants who have not actively practiced clinical medicine or held a teaching position for two of the three years before their application.
Doctors are no longer required to display their certificate of registration in the office.
The board is authorized to impose civil penalties up to $25,000 in disciplinary actions against licensees.
The board is required to make individuals applying for a license or holding a license submit to an evaluation of their skills, a multi-disciplinary evaluation, or a substance abuse evaluation, if there is cause to believe that the individual is incompetent about the medical or osteopathic profession, mentally or physically incapacitated, or excessively uses or abuses drugs.
The disciplinary authority of the board is modified to allow the board to discipline licensees for prescribing drugs through the internet without a valid physician-patient relationship, for being listed on a sex offender registry, for a single act of negligence, for knowingly making a false statement to the board, for violating a settlement agreement with the board, for failing to comply with a treatment program, and for violating any professional trust or confidence.
The board's authority to issue an emergency suspension or restriction of a licensee's license is modified to allow additional reasons for an emergency suspension or restriction, including: sexual conduct with a patient, sexual misconduct with a minor, possession or use of a controlled substance, a court finding that the licensee is incapacitated, habitual intoxication or dependence on alcohol or a controlled substance or failing to comply with a treatment program. The procedure for issuing emergency restrictions or suspensions is also modified. Emergency suspensions will take effect when the documents are served, rather than after a preliminary hearing before the Administrative Hearing Commission. The emergency restriction or suspension may be appealed to the circuit court.
The board is also authorized to initiate hearings before itself when disciplining a licensee's license for certain actions. The board's disciplinary decision is appealable to the circuit court.
The act requires a person prescribing a controlled substance to document certain information in a patient's medical record prior to prescribing the medication. If the prescription is for more than ninety days, a doctor is required to have the patient sign a medication agreement, unless the patient is unable to sign and abide by the agreement. The doctor is authorized to conduct random drug tests to document compliance with the prescribed medication.
Doctors who prescribe any drug, controlled substance, or other treatment through the Internet are required to meet certain requirements to establish that there is a valid physician-patient relationship.
The board's authority to discipline athletic trainers is also modified.
EMILY KALMER