Brief(1)
S.B. 194 amends two of the statutes in the Kansas Healing Arts Act that concern the grounds for disciplinary action against a licensee in the healing arts (medical doctors, doctors of osteopathic medicine, and doctors of chiropractic) and authority for the Board of Healing Arts to order licensees to submit to a physical or mental evaluation or drug screening.
The amendments delete language in K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 65-2836 which concerns orders for an evaluation or drug screening. The statute is further amended by deleting all of the subsection that currently requires licensees in medicine and surgery (MDs and DOs) to provide specific information relating to breast surgery for tissue abnormalities.
In the second statute, new language is added to replace and expand on that deleted in the earlier statute relating to the Board's authority to issue certain orders to licensees in the healing arts. The new provisions require the Board to give notice and an opportunity for a hearing under the Kansas Administrative Procedures Act when an order for submission to a physical or mental examination or drug screening is issued to a licensee. An exception to the requirement for an opportunity for a hearing is the instance in which the licensee has previously entered into an impaired provider contract. New provisions require the Board to hold any hearing in a closed session when the results of an examination or screening are involved and expand on the confidentiality of the records generated as a result of a Board order.
The Senate Committee amendment deletes the entire subsection relating to providing information to candidates for breast surgery.
Background
S.B. 194 was introduced at the request of the Board of Healing Arts whose representative appeared to support the bill during the Committee hearing. The portions of the bill concerning orders for mental or physical examinations and drug screening is a response to a Kansas Supreme Court decision relating to the current statute. While the original bill would have deleted provisions requiring the Board of Healing Arts to develop a standardized summary of alternatives to breast surgery to be given to individuals suffering from tissue abnormalities due to the rapidly changing treatment modalities that make it difficult to keep the mandated summary current, the Senate Committee was informed that giving information on alternatives to surgery is now the standard of practice. Moreover, the original requirement was added to the Kansas Healing Arts Act largely because of the unprofessional practices of one physician who is no longer practicing medicine. For these reasons the Committee deleted the entire subsection.
Representatives of the Kansas Medical Society and the Kansas Association of Osteopathic Medicine appeared to support the bill during Committee hearings. Written testimony and examples of information available for breast cancer patients was submitted by the Kansas Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The fiscal note on S.B. 194 indicates no fiscal effect from passage of the bill.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html.