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Committee sends bill to floor to let medical assistants work under advanced practice nurses
Summary
The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to send House Bill 327 to the House floor with a "do pass" recommendation after the sponsor said the bill updates state law so certified medical assistants may be supervised by advanced practice registered nurses.
The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to send House Bill 327 to the House floor with a "do pass" recommendation after Representative Healy, District 15, said the measure updates state law to reflect modern clinic practice.
Representative Healy told the committee that when the credentialing process for medical assistants was created, the role was defined to work under medical doctors and physician assistants. She said clinic practice has evolved and that advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) now have full autonomy, but state statute does not explicitly authorize APRNs to oversee medical assistants. "Long story, here we are advancing our medical practices and now we have advanced practice registered nurses that have full autonomy and practice and there's really nowhere in state statute that says that they can oversee medical assistance," Representative Healy said.
The bill would amend statutory language to allow certified medical assistants to work under oversight consistent with current clinical practice, Representative Healy said, characterizing the proposal as a cleanup to preserve team-based clinic work. "So we thought we should probably clean that up and make it so that we can continue practicing in clinics and having these wonderful, certified medical assistants assisting and being a valuable part of our practice," she said.
Representative Wheeler moved the motion to send House Bill 327 to the floor with a "do pass" recommendation. The committee recorded no scheduled external testimony on the measure. When the chair put the motion to a voice vote, members answered "aye" and the chair declared the motion carried: "Motion carries. House Bill 3 27 is sent to the floor with a due pass recommendation."
The committee did not record roll-call vote tallies in the transcript excerpt. The bill now goes to the House floor for further consideration.
Minutes and procedural notes: at the start of the meeting the committee approved minutes from Feb. 25–26.
