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Committee approves bill tightening out-of-state license review for nurses and adding school emergency medications
Summary
House Bill 688 received committee approval after sponsors said it would give the Kentucky Board of Nursing discretion to scrutinize out-of-state credentials amid fraud concerns and add authority for schools to administer additional emergency medications.
House Bill 688 was reported favorably by the Committee on Health Services after sponsors described two separate changes: restoring discretion to license reviewers for nurses credentialed out of state and expanding the list of rescue medications schools may administer.
"House Bill 688 does basically two things," Representative Steve Bratcher said in his presentation. "One, it addresses issues of potential fraud of people becoming nurses in other states and us adopting their license in Kentucky. And it also ... adds in some protections and some support for the education system to be able to give certain medications when needed."
Bratcher and Board of Nursing representatives described fraud uncovered after the state relaxed licensure requirements during an emergency period; testimony said an FBI probe identified fraudulent nursing-school documents in other states. The bill would change language in current law from "shall" to "may" when the Board evaluates out-of-state credentials, restoring discretion to scrutinize educational transcripts, curriculum and accreditation before accepting licensure.
Board counsel and the bill's sponsor also described substantive language added for school medical response. Chair Mosher, explaining her recorded vote, said the bill adds glucagon and Solu-Cortef for adrenal crises and clarifies that if a health care provider prescribes an emergency medication for a child at school, the school may store and administer that medication. "We are adding glucagon and we are adding, Solu Cortef for adrenal crises," Mosher said, adding the language also accommodates new delivery systems for epinephrine.
The committee approved the bill; the chair announced that House Bill 688 "passes with favorable expressions" and that the measure should pass on the House floor. The transcript excerpt does not include a numeric roll-call tally for this bill in the provided excerpt.
