The Intervention Evaluation Committee of the California Board of Registered Nursing met Tuesday and discussed an option for the committee to issue conditional recommendations that would allow some intervention-program participants to advance to fuller work duties without appearing again before the full committee.

Executive Officer Loretta Maldive told the committee the proposal is optional, case-by-case and intended to reduce delays created by public-meeting requirements. "So 1 of the suggestions that came forward to us that we would like you guys to take into consideration . . . are the thoughts around conditional recommendations," Maldive said, describing an example in which a participant approved for part-time work could move to full-time after satisfying conditions such as three months of clean random drug screens.

Maldive said the change would not remove oversight: conditional recommendations would require case-management (CCM) feedback and review by the program manager, who would accept or deny advancement before any change took effect. "So if you guys did a conditional recommendation, then, Jaspreet would be able to review that, and she could either deny it because that condition is not met, or she can accept it because that condition is met," Maldive said.

Chair Gia Giddleston asked whether conditional recommendations were necessary given the committee now meets every other month and noted the value of seeing participants in person for follow-up questions. Maldive said the option was already adopted at other IECs and reiterated that it is one tool the committee could deploy to avoid long delays for participants awaiting decisions.

Staff also updated the committee on outreach and partnerships. Meeting facilitator Jaspreet Pablo said management continues to work with Premier Health Group to provide education to IEC members and identify gaps in the intervention program. "The board emailed 71 outreach materials to individual nurses this quarter," Pablo said.

The committee moved and seconded a procedural motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting; the minutes were approved by roll call, with the chair announcing the motion carried.

Before taking applicant-specific votes, the committee recessed into closed session under cited legal authority to discuss intervention-program applicants and participants. The public portion of the meeting began at 09:05 a.m.; the closed session was announced at 09:28 a.m. The committee reconvened open session at 3:51 p.m. and adjourned immediately; the open transcript does not include the content or results of closed-session deliberations.

What happens next: staff said they will continue to implement outreach updates and that program staff can report back to the IEC in subsequent meetings about any conditional recommendations handled between full committee meetings.