The Kansas Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board(BSRB) professional counseling advisory committee on May 12 heard a slate of operational updates from executive director David Fye, who outlined progress on a continuing-education portal, a planned enterprise licensing system and a presentation the board received on educational disciplinary remedies.

Fye told the committee the board has partnered with CE Broker to let licensees upload continuing-education documentation and speed audit verification. "If you are selected for audit and you're using CE Broker, we can log in to the portal, verify the hours, and then approve your audit much quicker," he said, noting the rollout was completed in phases and the board will meet with CE Broker representatives to assess uptake and technical issues.

The report covered a separate technology project: the BSRB has selected Acela for a new enterprise licensing system and is completing the discovery phase. Fye estimated it could be about a year and a half before the system goes fully live and said the new software is intended to let applicants apply online, reduce payment errors and consolidate renewal and application functions.

Fye also summarized a May board presentation from EBOS Ethics for Public Protection, explaining the vendoroffers remedial, education-focused responses to some complaint findings as an alternative to traditional sanctions. "Some of the remedies the board has available . . . are a balance between punishment versus trying to work with the licensee and do rehabilitative type work," he said, adding the board will consider whether those services could be referred to the complaint review committee after additional board discussion.

Committee members volunteered user feedback about CE Broker and technical questions about registering multiple licenses. The discussion highlighted that licensees who hold multiple credential types may need to activate and upload records separately for each license in the portal, a process members called potentially tedious.

The advisory committee also heard that the board revised its document-retention schedule to reduce paper storage and is pursuing electronic storage for disciplinary files and other records. Fye said staff additions and process changes aim to make licensing and enforcement workflows more efficient ahead of the Acela implementation.

The committee will receive follow-up information on CE Broker usage and any technical problems at an upcoming meeting and will continue to provide user feedback to staff. The advisory committee did not take formal action on these operational items during the meeting.