SB230 was heard in the Health Policy committee yesterday and this is the take away from that discussion as it pertains to all providers. This bill ensure that all healthcare providers will adequately identify themselves in any advertisement or when in the clinical treatment setting whether seeing a patient or doing a consult. All licensed professionals must:

1. wear a name tag that states their name and their licensed profession if not in an office setting OR they can have a license displayed on the wall if they are in an office setting. The name tag must not be misleading, fraudulent, or deceptive.

2. identify who you are when addressing a patient

When advertising the licensed provider must state their name and their licensed profession and will understand that the physician titles are protected and reserved for medical doctors and osteopathic doctors.

If the healthcare provider misuses the protected title then one would be subject to practicing medicine without a license. This will then go to the Medical Quality Assurance division at the Department of Health and they will take care of it from there. Each profession has it's own practice acts and titles that are allowed to be used and the discipline will be taken on by each specific profession.

There are still items in the specific bill that will be worked on but this was the amendment that was passed on February 20, 2023. We will provide more information as we receive it.

2/21/23kk

With a vote of 10 yeahs and 1 nay, SB230 was passed with the amendment. This amendment was a significant change to the original bill which did not allow APRNs to use the Doctor title in practice. This amendment does ensure all providers must be transparent in their professional degrees so all patients know who is caring for them.  It also stipulates specific guidelines for advertising and displaying your license. Please read the bill and amendment below:

Senate Bill 230