Committee advances bill clarifying LPN role in delegated nursing assessments

Representative Healy, who represents District 15, told the Idaho Senate Health & Welfare Committee that House Bill 89 clarifies how licensed practical nurses (LPNs) may take part in patient assessments.

"In nursing, as you all probably know, we have different levels of nursing," Representative Healy said. He told the committee the phrase in statute reading "contributing to" an assessment is vague and inconsistent with existing IDAPA rules, which refer to LPNs performing assessments when delegated by a registered nurse (RN).

The bill replaces or clarifies statutory language so that RNs may delegate "appropriate delegated focused assessments" to LPNs, Representative Healy said, allowing RNs to give specific, task‑oriented instructions (for example, "go take vital signs" or "assess the skin on the back of this patient") while reserving more complex or wholly RN‑responsible tasks to RNs.

Senator Brandon Shippey asked for a practical example of the difference between "performing delegated assessments" and "performing appropriate delegated focused assessments." Representative Healy answered that the word "focused" simply signals that the delegated work is a discrete list of tasks within the delegatee's scope of practice, not a transfer of overall responsibility for a patient intake or broad assessment.

Senator Blaylock moved to send House Bill 89 to the Senate floor with a "do pass" recommendation; Senator Wintrow seconded. The committee approved the motion by voice vote.

Why it matters: The sponsor described this as a narrow, technical change intended to align Idaho statute with IDAPA administrative rules and to remove ambiguity about what an RN may delegate to an LPN. Supporters framed the change as intended to keep patients safe while allowing nursing teams to operate efficiently within defined scopes of practice.

The committee record did not include a roll‑call vote count; senators indicated approval by voice vote.