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Kansas BSRB advisory committee reviews legislative oversight of licensing and disciplinary processes
Summary
The Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board’s Professional Counselor Advisory Committee heard an executive director report about recent legislative scrutiny of agency disciplinary procedures and discussed the board’s investigation policy, complaint-review committee staffing and a pilot to use an external rehabilitation tool for discipline.
The Professional Counselor Advisory Committee of the Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board met remotely Oct. 2 and spent a substantial portion of its meeting on legislative attention to licensing and disciplinary procedures, Executive Director David Fye told the committee.
Fye told members that a legislative special committee on government oversight recently reviewed operations at the Kansas Board of Nursing, focusing on performance measures and investigation and complaint procedures. He said the hearings raised questions about notice to licensees before expiration, steps for renewal and the difficulty some licensees face when seeking reinstatement after an expiration.
The advisory committee heard Fye contrast those reviews with the BSRB’s current procedures. He said the BSRB sends email renewal reminders 90, 60 and 30 days before expiration and mails a letter when a license has expired that explains the practical consequences and the reinstatement process. “I think our way of informing people … is in a good position,” Fye said.
Fye also described publicly posted agency materials that explain the complaint and investigation process, including an investigation policy that outlines when the BSRB will respond to complaints, how investigations proceed and the types of orders the board can issue. The board has revised that policy and posts frequently asked questions, he said.
The advisory committee discussed possible additions to the complaint-review committee. The full BSRB recently recommended adding a sixth board member to the committee, increasing the rotation of members who review complaints and giving more board members exposure to disciplinary work. Fye said the change was intended to spread the workload and increase institutional familiarity with complaint handling.
The board is also considering using a private firm, EBOS, to provide remedial training and assessment services when a disciplinary finding indicates a practitioner would benefit from targeted education, Fye said. Under that approach, a provider found to have violated standards might complete tailored training, testing or writing assignments reviewed by experts as a component of a discipline agreement.
Committee members did not vote on a formal policy change at this meeting but asked questions about how the board’s public materials explain consent agreements, summary proceeding orders and differences between investigation outcomes. Fye warned that some items discussed in legislative hearings involved active litigation and that not all investigative records are published in disciplinary orders, which can present a limited public view of complex cases.
The committee agreed to monitor legislative activity and consider whether additional clarifications or outreach to licensees could reduce confusion about renewal, reinstatement and investigation processes.
