Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee introduces five health-related bills, schedules print hearings

BOISE — The Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee introduced five legislative service (RS) requests Tuesday that would change nursing practice language, merge two long‑term care licensing boards, update controlled‑substance schedules, remove obsolete Department of Health and Welfare references in state code and implement a federal requirement for Medicaid third‑party authorizations.

Rep. Dore Healy, who represents District 15, presented RS 31‑965 to clarify licensed practical nurse responsibilities under delegated authority from registered nurses, saying the bill replaces a vague phrase with more precise language. “This is going to create a better safety and quality of care for all of our patients,” Healy said when asking the committee to introduce the measure.

The committee also introduced RS 31‑812, presented by Healy, to merge the Board of Examiners for Nursing Home Administrators and the Board of Examiners for Residential Care Facility Administrators into a single board of long‑term care. Healy said the sponsor will provide more detail when the RS is printed for a committee hearing.

Nikki Chopsky, Health Professions Bureau chief at the Division of Occupational Professional Licenses and executive officer for the boards of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, summarized RS 31‑822. The RS would update Idaho’s Controlled Substances Act by adding 24 illicit substances —…