The Kansas Board of Nursing Investigative Committee heard a presentation urging the board to create a confidential diversionary or alternative‑to‑discipline pathway for nurses for minor or first‑time offenses.

Josh Nye, an attorney practicing administrative law in Kansas, told the committee he was “a little surprised that you have no formal the board of nursing has no formal, diversion program or other alternative to enforcement program.” He said other Kansas licensing bodies have formal diversion programs and offered to help draft a policy patterned on existing local and county practices.

Amy (identifying herself as president of the Kansas Advanced Practice Nursing Association) said most licensed health professions in Kansas have access to diversionary processes and warned that public discipline can cause long‑term professional harm. “This public shaming form of discipline should be reserved for people who represent serious threat to public safety,” she said, and urged the committee to consider non‑public options for de minimis matters such as late licensure renewal or certain social‑media posts.

Nye told the committee he had reviewed diversion language in other Kansas regulatory bodies and in national literature, and he listed the Board of Healing Arts’ codified rule 12‑2‑12 as an example. He said a non‑disciplinary, confidential program typically requires ongoing monitoring, can be run by a board or a contracted outside program, and may permit rehabilitation without a public enforcement record for qualifying practitioners.

Committee members discussed the Kansas Nurse Assistance Program (KNAB) and the Heart of America Professional Network’s evolution to “strategic professional solutions,” noting that KNAB remains the impaired‑provider monitoring program in Kansas. Several members said they are interested in learning whether KNAB or other states’ programs provide precedent for non‑public diversion for de minimis offenses and requested staff invite KNAB representatives to present program details and contract language at a future meeting.

Chair Juliana opened the meeting for the presentation and thanked the speakers for the materials submitted to the committee. The committee did not adopt policy during the meeting; members asked staff to gather more information and return with comparative examples and KNAB’s program rules for further consideration.

The committee moved on to other agenda items after the presentation.