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Senate subcommittee advances bill to create statewide, de-identified health-care professional database
Summary
The Occupation and Professional Licensing Subcommittee voted to advance Senate Bill 131, which would require licensing boards to share de-identified workforce data with the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce to build a searchable statewide listing for planners and consumers.
Senate Bill 131, sponsored in committee by Senator Hodges, cleared the Occupation and Professional Licensing Subcommittee and was reported to the full Committee on Regulated Industries. The bill would require 15 licensing boards to collaborate with the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce (GBHCW) to create a statewide, de‑identified database of licensed health-care professionals for use by planners and consumers.
Senator Hodges said the bill "is pretty simple. It established establishes, health care professional, data system across the state," and described the intended uses as allowing planners to detect "health care deserts" and enabling consumers to find nearby providers by license type and other non‑identifying characteristics. The bill text (LC 550520 S) proposes a new code section, 49‑10‑8, within Chapter 10 of Title 49 to authorize the data system and list the data elements to be collected.
Chet Bassin, executive director of the Georgia Board of Health Care Workforce, told the committee that GBHCW administers a range of programs and maintains public supply‑and‑distribution data: "We are administratively attached to DCH. We are a, an agency that has 15 board members... In the high level, our agency administers just under $200,000,000 a year in loan repayment programs." He said the board already produces public workforce data and would host the new listing.
The bill sets out the types of data to be included: age, language proficiency, gender, ethnicity, practice location and license type. Senator Hodges and other committee members emphasized that the database would not contain individual provider names. When a committee member asked whether the provider name would be included, Bassin answered, "No. No name. No names." The sponsor also noted the bill allows GBHCW to seek federal or other grants to develop and maintain the system.
Members discussed how to avoid double‑counting providers who practice at multiple sites. One member noted that a provider with practices in three towns could appear as three separate providers in geographic counts. Bassin said licensing boards do not currently capture National Provider Identifier (NPI) numbers, but suggested using the state licensing number or a unique identifier on the back end to link multiple practice locations to one individual without publishing names.
After discussion, a member moved that the bill "do pass;" a second was called and the subcommittee advanced SB 131 to the full committee by voice vote. The committee record shows the motion was approved and the bill was referred to the full committee for further consideration.
The bill text lists 28 categories of licensed health‑care professionals affected and names 15 licensing boards that would supply data; those specifics appear in the bill language referenced in committee (lines cited by the sponsor). No vote roll call or tally by member name was recorded in the transcript; the action was carried by voice vote.
