[{"_1":2,"_100":-5,"_101":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,88],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6524719,"mediaKeyId","2837418-39a38b13bf91f697de3affbc93742095","parentId",2837418,"title","Committee advances bill letting hospitals hire anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists and ER physicians to ease rural staffing shortages","audioSeconds",439,"startMs",5677000,"endMs",6116000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2837418-39a38b13bf91f697de3affbc93742095&start=5677&end=6116","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2837418-39a38b13bf91f697de3affbc93742095/thumbnail_5677000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6524719/Tennessee/Committee-advances-bill-letting-hospitals-hire-anesthesiologists-radiologists-pathologists-and-ER-physicians-to-ease-rural-staffing-shortages","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6524719-c94ce76c9f7fd79d954c1a88fcfbb342/orig.mp4?Expires=1771154807&Signature=IfqFqZTfmUUED7xjUIudzGV37YERrwdhj~UAKUT3IpVfhQiBWaeMCqO6666U8TJB0y8coyhy0RGbDVLcSWwgxkXa73miRbZ6ONg7QKu66RZH~qR~ntQaxeATrChDl1KIakwK8UWC8XZTXIbb~E1dAhG67WZ56nYhqiWQTa~eb1sTu6uQmXZYz04RtaJ13ZCjMhDJvOyBncNTZ2tzgSJflN0GyrCzDQWDLOK6910iaQyUKhXM6nuuvG5HQKffPlC4sWD89z1z4rJoG008-TldpevIRtJd9p~ALVNIpXmIyGuyv9L8Jx3oN6stlJXXnrp8fFPU7TEmhyFbrbzOMPFWMw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Tennessee Legislature","date","2025-04-01T00:00:00Z","article","The House Health Full Committee voted to advance House Bill 979, which would permit hospitals to employ anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists and emergency physicians — a change sponsors and supporting hospital and physician groups said is aimed at addressing staffing shortages in underserved and rural communities.

Sponsor testimony framed the bill as workforce development rather than an operational takeover of existing practice models. The sponsor said the rewrite addresses stakeholders’ concerns and includes language designed to avoid interfering with certified registered nurse anesthetists’ (CRNA) current scope and existing anesthesia staffing models.

Stakeholder organizations listed in committee testimony as supporting the rewrite included the Tennessee Hospital Association, Tennessee Medical Association, Tennessee Society of Anesthesiologists, Tennessee Radiological Society and the Tennessee Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The sponsor told the committee the changes were requested to keep hospitals able to meet Medicare perioperative care requirements and to avoid placing employed anesthesiologists in “untenable” positions with respect to medically directed or personally performed anesthesia services.

During committee discussion a sponsor representative clarified that the bill does not require that every anesthesia case be medically directed by an anesthesiologist nor require a hospital to change the anesthesia staffing model; rather, the statute would ensure hospitals that employ anesthesiologists can comply with CMS payment rules when applicable. The sponsor said the amendment also expanded the definition of anesthesiologist and included a Department of Health cleanup requested by stakeholders.

Committee members asked whether hospital-employed anesthesiologists would alter CRNA practice or supervision models; witnesses and the sponsor said the bill preserves hospitals’ ability to select anesthesia-care models appropriate to local conditions.

The measure passed the committee and will move to Government Operations. Vote tally: 21 ayes, 1 nay, 1 present not voting.

Next steps: The bill proceeds to Government Operations where committee members and stakeholders may seek additional technical edits or study implementation details for rural hospitals.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Health Committee Apr 1, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","House Bill 979, intended as a workforce measure, passed the House Health Full Committee after sponsors said it will help rural hospitals recruit and stabilize staffing; sponsors added clarifying language to preserve CRNA practice models.","taxTitle","Health, House of Representatives, Committees, Legislative, Tennessee","taxId",35345,"location","Tennessee","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6524724,"House Health Committee advances 16 bills; animal chiropractic, hospital staffing and abortion-related clarifications among measures moved forward",3853,2869000,6722000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2837418-39a38b13bf91f697de3affbc93742095&start=2869&end=6722","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2837418-39a38b13bf91f697de3affbc93742095/thumbnail_2869000.jpg","/articles/6524724/Tennessee/House-Health-Committee-advances-16-bills-animal-chiropractic-hospital-staffing-and-abortion-related-clarifications-among-measures-moved-forward","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6524724-f55abc2176ed58709c3a250dc8cf0ac9/orig.mp4?Expires=1771154807&Signature=NhTj9HQ4ajk~ZGIEWLejxwgXx8EmUgxDT6OK2TNmXLJTOVOGF4KH43uF8DSJRroVHjskQ7a00vq2SZNr1VJSaP7NEodhiQ3F7iVpcczHySyVJz0USDlWGAE1M17IRuSmKl84Fn7tirAJ4Q5vjF0t-~4rvhctP~BSR9xz5sqN-yBBWLRgeFqv2eh29e5xLqJVNe-ZY6HsB8bG13-QGpzjSgz5o5Wdotpvv~q4NIqLYZiK~dujDFisFYqLbmaC43-lTrB0U31U4Bz3TcYhFqXOw4WnERRMnbNtYYqCKGpF4lhX-5GvU3l7t4~-v9~7i41NTDL1CpCu681HxrptT-QRTA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The Tennessee House Health Full Committee completed its calendar and advanced 16 agenda items to subsequent committees and rules calendars. Committee decisions included measures on animal chiropractic certification, hospital staffing and scope-of-practice adjustments, corrections-based buprenorphine prescribing, recovery residence certification, and clarifying language related to the state’s Human Life Protection Act.

Below are the bills the committee acted on, a one-line summary of the measure as explained to the committee, and the committee vote tally where recorded.

- House Bill 164 (Sponsor: Speaker Marsh): Establishes certification and training standards for chiropractic physicians and veterinarians who perform animal chiropractic care; advances to Government Operations. Vote: 15 ayes, 6 nays, 2 present not voting.

- House Bill 1141 (Chairman Boyd): Requires the Health Facilities Commission to limit recertification intervals to no more than 15 months and apply to CMS for a block-grant waiver; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 21 ayes, 2 nays.

- House Bill 1349 (sponsored item): Requires county medical examiners to test and report psychotropic/drug presence in decedents from mass shootings and send data to University of Tennessee Health Science Center for study; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 17 ayes, 5 nays.

- House Bill 1351 (recovery residences): Requires nationally recognized recovery-residence certifying organizations to meet minimum standards (annual site inspection, 3-year certification max) and gives the mental health commissioner authority to approve organizations; advances to State & Local. Vote: 21 ayes, 0 nays.

- House Bill 960 (maternal mental health continuing education): Adds continuing education opportunities in maternal mental health; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 21 ayes, 0 nays.

- House Bill 1205 (self-prescribing/physician-family prescribing clarification): Authorizes limited self- and immediate-family prescribing under specified conditions and emergency exceptions; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 15 ayes, 5 nays.

- House Bill 1203 (peer monitoring/private advocacy for self-reporting physicians): Allows Board of Medical Examiners to issue private orders requiring monitored practice for self-reporting physicians addressing substance misuse; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 21 ayes, 0 nays.

- House Bill 466 (lab supervisor availability): Removes a mandatory 30-hours-per-week on-site requirement for lab supervisors and instead requires supervisors be readily available when tests are performed; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 22 ayes, 0 nays.

- House Bill 1239 (House Bill 12-39, Haynes): Allows midlevel providers in correctional facilities to prescribe buprenorphine under specified supervision/collaboration and protocol requirements; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 23 ayes, 0 nays.

- House Bill 869 (electronic health record fixes): Modifies last year’s EHR statute to remove a 72-hour hold on certain lab results and align API deadlines with CMS implementation dates; advances to Insurance. Vote: 22 ayes, 0 nays.

- House Bill 6638 (House Bill 6 638): Modifies provider refusal/denial rules and preserves certain exemptions for transplant, oncology and immunocompromised patients; advances to Government Operations. Vote: 12 ayes, 8 nays, 2 present not voting.

- House Bill 865 (nursing pipeline program): Allows Ballad Health grant-related nursing pipeline and partnership arrangements with community colleges for accelerated high-school-to-nursing workforce pathways; advances to Government Operations. Vote: 23 ayes, 0 nays.

- House Bill 979 (hospital employment of certain specialists): Allows hospitals to employ anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists and emergency physicians to address workforce shortages; sponsors and stakeholders said the change is aimed at rural staffing and includes clarifying language preserving CRNA practice models; advances to Government Operations. Vote: 21 ayes, 1 nay, 1 present not voting.

- House Bill 990 (clarifying language to Human Life Protection Act): Adds clarifying medical-language examples (e.g., severe preeclampsia, previable rupture of membranes, infections risking uterine rupture) to the statute’s medical-exception standard; sponsor said the measure clarifies diagnoses that may meet the already existing standard; advances to Calendar & Rules. Vote: 15 ayes, 6 nays, 1 present not voting.

- Additional housekeeping: One item (House Bill 819 / item 12 on the calendar) was taken off notice and not considered.

What to watch next: Many bills will require follow-up in the committees named (Government Operations; Calendar & Rules; Insurance; State & Local). Several measures that drew extended testimony (HB 164; HB 979; HB 990) could see further amendment or stakeholder negotiation as they move forward.

Committee staff recorded vote tallies for each item; the clerk’s roll calls supplied the official counts reported above.","The House Health Full Committee voted to advance a slate of bills to subsequent committees this week. Several items drew extended debate; most measures passed on party-line or broad bipartisan margins.",{"_33":89,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":90,"_41":91,"_43":92,"_45":93,"_47":94,"_49":95,"_51":96,"_53":97,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":98,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":99,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6524729,"House committee advances bill to let certified chiropractors and veterinarians provide animal chiropractic care",2503,391000,2894000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2837418-39a38b13bf91f697de3affbc93742095&start=391&end=2894","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2837418-39a38b13bf91f697de3affbc93742095/thumbnail_391000.jpg","/articles/6524729/Tennessee/House-committee-advances-bill-to-let-certified-chiropractors-and-veterinarians-provide-animal-chiropractic-care","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6524729-fd65f73fa94d11bc92dcd0985cfd6034/orig.mp4?Expires=1771154807&Signature=IU9BZHccQwpkMbYtvdVRpzUPq1SG4zw33~YSvotOxZiXZs3Hq3UgE5LiHvNfBicVZFLSJwyebqORtk7oBNCQwN7I6frDPTZs8HgidufC1VAvTp3XQsUCNHdB26kHZ0eteZvRDfY0ZetNDOJE6tsjAQ1ulG6jcKVvELHHN5p4J9cK8BonM1R-HyOknO8UWG8tH7v57WWEmf6RYZTolVrlVyIR7IrN4NjppJn-qS5aP~Z9f5javvl7GbW9o8op74znRVbfNTwkhwQTFu7uiBwjZZ0ak91TJRan1hvrad9ggsasrkcgTQvfb22LM-l9nlIWfWRiUsTofq-yTrkeR1wM~A__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","The House Health Full Committee advanced House Bill 164, which would authorize chiropractic physicians and veterinarians who meet specified postgraduate training and certification standards to provide animal chiropractic care.

Supporters said the measure creates clear certification standards for practitioners who already treat animals and preserves owner choice; opponents — primarily veterinarians — said the bill removes necessary veterinary oversight and risks missed medical diagnoses that require diagnostic testing and medication.

Speaker Pat Marsh, the bill sponsor, told the committee the measure would “establish educational standards, which must be met by chiropractic physicians and veterinarians who perform animal chiropractic work” and said owners “should be given a choice” whether to take animals to a veterinarian or to a certified animal chiropractor.

Veterinarian Emily Dryden, representing the Tennessee Veterinary Medical Association, said animals often present signs that can be caused by internal disease rather than musculoskeletal problems. “Many times animals present with back pain that happens to be referred from another area in the body,” Dryden said, describing cases in which diagnostics such as radiographs and ultrasound revealed problems — including a splenic tumor — that chiropractic care would not address.

Elizabeth Griffin, a Clarksville veterinarian who holds an animal chiropractic certification through the IVCA, said the bill as drafted would exclude some veterinarians and chiropractors who are IVCA-certified and would therefore “actually hurt animal chiropractic” by cutting out a certifying pathway she and classmates used. Richard Cole, vice president of the Tennessee Chiropractic Association, said the bill mirrors model regulatory language used by national chiropractic oversight organizations and notes the AVCA (American Veterinary Chiropractic Association) certification and a 210-hour postgraduate training minimum. “House Bill 164 contains the key elements in the federation model code governing animal chiropractic services,” Cole said.

Tiffany Stevens, executive director of the Tennessee Chiropractic Association, described the bill as an effort to “create clear lanes here, not muddy the lanes,” and said AVCA training requires a minimum of 210 hours plus annual continuing education requirements.

Committee member Representative Gillespie pressed witnesses on whether owners can reliably determine when to seek veterinary care versus chiropractic care; Dryden, citing years of clinical experience, said owners frequently misinterpret symptoms and that veterinarians need access to diagnostics and, in some cases, to sedate animals to obtain necessary x-rays. Chiropractic witnesses said certification programs require knowledge of veterinary care, asserted collaborative referral is expected when internal disease is suspected, and said AVCA standards require knowledge that the animal is under a veterinarian’s care.

The committee voted to advance House Bill 164 as amended. Vote tally: 15 ayes, 6 nays, 2 present not voting. The bill moves to Government Operations.

The debate centered on: (1) scope-of-practice and how to document and enforce a veterinarian relationship when an animal sees a chiropractor; (2) which certifying bodies (AVCA or IVCA) the statute should reference or permit; and (3) whether statutory language should require diagnostic steps (imaging, sedation, bloodwork) before manipulation in cases where internal disease could explain musculoskeletal signs.

The committee did not adopt language requiring that chiropractors perform sedation or dispense medications; witnesses noted the bill expressly prohibits chiropractors from performing surgery, dispensing or administering medications, and from practicing traditional veterinary medical care.

Next step: Government Operations Committee consideration.","After competing testimony from veterinarians and chiropractors, the House Health Full Committee voted to advance House Bill 164 to Government Operations. The bill would create statutory certification and training requirements for providers who perform chiropractic care on animals.","actionData","errors"]

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Committee advances bill letting hospitals hire anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists and ER physicians to ease rural staffing shortages

House Health Committee advances 16 bills; animal chiropractic, hospital staffing and abortion-related clarifications among measures moved forward

House committee advances bill to let certified chiropractors and veterinarians provide animal chiropractic care