Board of Nursing proposes new hearing schedule to clear disciplinary backlog

The Connecticut Board of Nursing on Feb. 4 proposed changing how it schedules disciplinary hearings to address a backlog and recurring difficulties forming panels. Chair Gina Reiners told members the board is considering keeping all members on the first Wednesday of each month so the full board can conduct one hearing beginning about 1 p.m., and using the third Wednesday to run two simultaneous hearings in breakout rooms.

"So what we're proposing is that the first Wednesday of the month that we have our meeting, that we all are we all stay on, that we have a hearing," Reiners said, describing a plan to divide the eight-member board into two panels of four on the third Wednesday to handle more cases.

Reiners framed the change as an operational response to recent increases in summary suspensions and difficulty recruiting volunteers for hearing panels. Board members noted the constraints volunteers face, including work and teaching schedules; member Sal Salvatore Diaz urged the board to consider reinstating a single full-day monthly schedule as it had pre-pandemic. "People don't have that… I don't know why we don't go back to one time a month," Diaz said.

Department counsel also flagged logistical needs: scheduling must accommodate prosecutors, attorneys and witnesses, and some cases assigned to hearing officers may later require panel review. Attorney Julianne Avalon urged clearer voting language when the board approves summary suspensions so staff can assign hearings to an appropriate date.

The board did not formally adopt the schedule during the meeting; members asked staff to coordinate with the Department of Public Health and return with a timeline. Reiners said the board will reassess the approach after a trial period and asked for a future agenda item to evaluate outcomes.