SF 2080 – Iowa Prescription Monitoring Program – Information Exchange
SF 2083 – Iowa Board of Dietetics Technical Bill
SF 2120 – Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Title
SF 2121 – Controlled Substances Schedule
SF 2193 – Adult Day Services Admission & Retention Criteria
SF 2196 – Department of Public Health Omnibus
SF 2239 – Elder Abuse
SF 2276 – Adoption Requirements
SF 2320 – Medicaid Consumer Directed Care Provider Eligibility
HF 2109 – E-Cigarettes – Prohibition of Sale to Minors
HF 2159 – Medicaid Miller Trusts Income Limit Increase
HF 2365– Department of Inspections and Appeals Duties
HF 2378 – Provisional License in Psychology
HF 2379 – Crisis Stabilization Program Authorization
SF 2080 permits the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to enter into an agreement with a prescription database or monitoring program operating in a bordering state and Kansas for the mutual exchange of information. Agreements must specify that all information exchanged will be used and disseminated in accordance with Iowa law. [2/24: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2083 makes technical changes to Code concerning the Iowa Board of Dietetics, including:
• Changing references from the American Dietetic Association to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to reflect the Association’s name change and identifies the Academy’s Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics as the credentialing agency.
• Specifying that a dietitian must complete an examination approved by both the Academy and the Board is required for licensure.
• Allowing an exemption from licensure for dietetic students engaged in and dieticians conducting a teaching demonstration in connection with clinical education sponsored by a competency based, supervised experience program approved by the Academy. [2/24: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2120 authorizes the use of the title Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner or the abbreviation A.R.N.P. after the names of anyone currently licensed as such by the Board of Nursing. [2/24: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2121 makes changes to the controlled substance schedules. This is an annual bill requested by the Board of Pharmacy to keep the Iowa Code updated concerning the classification and permitted use of controlled substances as generally determined by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. [2/24: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2193 identifies the criteria by which adult day service programs may not admit or retain a participant. Admission and retention criteria are currently found in administrative rules. This bill reduces the list of criteria by which programs are to refuse admission or retention, thus expanding the availability of these services and allowing participants to delay or avoid costlier long-term care services. [2/25: 50-0]
SF 2196 requires certain professionals to take blood-borne pathogens training consistent with OSHA standards; moves the repeal date from 2014 to 2016 for specified programs under the Health Care Workforce Support Initiative; adds the Fulfilling Iowa’s Need for Dentists (FIND) program to the Health Care Workforce Support Initiative; eliminates mandatory inspections of salons, barbershops and places where dead bodies are prepared or held, and instead institutes permissive inspections based on complaints; removes reference to sheet metal master license because such licenses are not actually available; and requires at least half, rather than a simple majority, of Board of Medicine disciplinary hearing panels to consist of Board members. [4/8: 49-0 (Houser excused)]
SF 2239 creates a process to obtain a civil protective order for a vulnerable elder who has suffered or is likely to suffer abuse as defined in the bill. There is no current process in Iowa law for this purpose, and a protective order proceeding was one of multiple recommendations made to the Elder Abuse Interim Committee. The bill also requires the Department on Aging, Department of Human Services, Department of Inspections & Appeals, Department of Public Health and Attorney General to collaborate and provide recommendations to the Legislature, Governor and Department of Management regarding ways to strengthen elder abuse prevention, detection and intervention efforts. The recommendations will also include any budgetary considerations. If there is no consensus on the recommendations, each department is to write a separate report. [4/29: 48-0 (Ernst, Houser excused)]
SF 2276 makes changes to adoption processes to improve the chances of safe, appropriate and successful adoptions. The bill requires that an adoption pre-placement investigation and report include examination of the criminal and child abuse records of the prospective adoption petitioner. The bill also requires a post-placement investigation and report to consist of no less than three face-to-face visits with the minor to be adopted and the adoption petitioner to be conducted within 30, 90 and 180 days following the placement. Verification is required to document that any unique needs of the minor are appropriately met. A report is to be filed with the court and provided to the adoption petitioner regarding the medical and social history of the minor’s parents. The bill also extends from one year to two years the time during which an approved adoption petitioner may receive a placement. The bill codifies similar processes for post-placement investigations for international adoptions. [3/4: 49-0 (Ernst excused)]
SF 2320 ensures greater accessibility of home-based Medicaid services that are less costly than facility services and eliminate a hardship on families because of rules the Department of Human Services (DHS) promulgated during the 2013 interim. The bill allows individuals who serve as a Medicaid member’s legal representative and provide services under a consumer directed attendant care (CDAC) agreement or consumer choices option (CCO) employment agreement on or after December 31, 2013, to continue providing Medicaid services via CDAC or CCO. The bill specifies that a provider who is also the legal representative of the Medicaid member must be paid no more than the statewide median rate for services without approval by DHS and can submit claims for no more than 40 hours per week. In addition, a contingency plan must be created to ensure services are provided when the provider is unavailable due to illness or an unexpected event. This provision overrides DHS rules established in the 2013 interim. Beginning July 1, 2016, DHS may end the individual CDAC program and require new self-directed services to be provided through a CDAC agency or CCO. However, providers with existing CDAC agreements in effect as of June 30, 2016, may continue to provide services under the contract (they would be “grandfathered in”). Additionally, the bill transitions agency provided CDAC services to “personal care services,” allowing additional services to be provided for those discharged from an inpatient health care facility. The bill is effective upon enactment and retroactive to December 31, 2013. [3/27: 46-0 (Bertrand, Boettger, Ernst, Houser excused)]
HF 2109 definesin Iowa Code what is commonly known as electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes as “vapor products” and defines “alternative nicotine products.” The bill also bans the sale to, use by and possession by minors. Both nicotine and non-nicotine solutions used in e-cigarettes are included in the definition. Penalties for noncompliance with the restrictions on the possession, use and sale of these products align with those applied to similar restrictions on cigarettes and tobacco products. The bill applies the same retail permitting process and regulation by the Alcoholic Beverages Division to these products. Vapor products and alternative nicotine products are exempt from tobacco/cigarette taxes and are not included in the Smokefree Air Act. However, the bill explicitly states that nothing in this bill is to be construed to prohibit the Department of Revenue from collecting taxes imposed on cigarettes or tobacco products currently subject to taxation.[4/28: 37-12 (Black, Bolkcom, Dearden, Dvorsky, Hatch, Hogg, Jochum, McCoy, Petersen, Segebart, Seng, Taylor "no"; Houser excused)]
HF 2159 is designed to help Iowans who must go to extremes to afford long-term care services because their incomes are just above the private pay nursing home cost. The bill helps by increasing the percentage of income from 100 percent to 125 percent that a person can have relative to the statewide average charge for a private pay resident of a nursing facility for determining Medicaid eligibility. The bill allows more Iowans to use Miller Trusts (also known as “Medical Assistance Income Trusts”), which help those who have incomes that are higher than the Medicaid eligibility rate but lower than the cost of nursing care. Assets and income are moved into the trust and are not considered in determining Medicaid eligibility. When the Medicaid member dies, any assets remaining in the Trust are paid to Medicaid for services provided. Funds in excess of the Medicaid liability remain with the estate. A portion of the income deposited in the Trust may be diverted to support a spouse living in the community, personal allowances and the trustee fee. [3/24: 45-0 (Greiner, Houser, Kapucian, Segebart, Zumbach excused)]
HF 2365 removes duplicate Code language concerning background checks for prospective employees of hospitals and students in a certified nurse aide training program; clarifies the reasons a health care facility license can be denied, suspended or revoked, including impeding a request from the Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) for information or having a history in another state of misconduct; updates references to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman and clarifies its relationship with the DIA; extends the independent reviewer option in instances where a facility wants to contest a DIA citation that was passed last year for nursing facilities and assisted living programs to elder group homes and adult day services; adds repeated failure to operate a previously licensed program and impeding the DIA’s inspection as conditions when certification of an elder group home, assisted living program and adult day services program can be denied, suspended or revoked; updates timeframe requirements for hospitals, adult day services, nursing facilities, dependent adult programs and nursing aide programs to verify criminal convictions and records of child or dependent adult abuse from 48 hours to seven calendar days. [3/17: 47-0 (Bertrand, Greiner, Houser excused)]
HF 2378 allows a person who possesses a doctoral degree in psychology to apply for a provisional license to practice psychology under the supervision of a licensed psychologist for up to two years in accordance with rules promulgated by the Board of Psychology. The provisional license can be renewed, and the Board will set application fees at a level sufficient to cover administrative costs. One of the conditions of licensure by the Board of Psychology is that a person with a doctoral degree in psychology must complete a one-year postgraduate internship. Provisional licensure would allow the intern’s time to be eligible for reimbursement by health care payers. [3/18: 45-0 (Greiner, Hogg, Houser, Zaun, Zumbach excused)]
HF 2379 directs the Department of Human Services (DHS) to accredit, certify or apply standards of review to authorize the operation of crisis stabilization programs. DHS is directed to apply relevant requirements for an emergency mental health crisis services provider and system in Iowa Code Section 225C.19. Emergency mental health crisis services system is defined as a coordinated array of crisis services for providing a response to assist a child or adult who is experiencing a mental health crisis or who is in a situation that is reasonably likely to cause the individual to have a mental health crisis unless assistance is provided. The bill specifies that the programs do not need to be licensed like hospitals (Chapter 135B), health care facilities (Chapter 135C), subacute mental health care facilities (Chapter 135G), or certified as an assisted living program (Chapter 231C). DHS is directed to adopt rules to implement the bill and is required to accept a crisis stabilization program’s accreditation by a national accrediting organization in lieu of applying the standards developed by DHS. This bill will help establish crisis stabilization programs for short-term residencies in emergencies, filling a gap in current mental health and disability services statewide. [3/18: 45-0 (Greiner, Hogg, Houser, Zaun, Zumbach excused)]