HF 642

as introduced - 82nd Legislature (2001 - 2002) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to health occupations; establishing a ground 
  1.3             for disciplinary action for physicians who fail to 
  1.4             fulfill service obligations and fail to repay loans 
  1.5             and penalties under the National Health Services Corps 
  1.6             state loan repayment program; amending Minnesota 
  1.7             Statutes 2000, section 147.091, subdivision 1. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 147.091, 
  1.10  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  1.11     Subdivision 1.  [GROUNDS LISTED.] The board may refuse to 
  1.12  grant a license or may impose disciplinary action as described 
  1.13  in section 147.141 against any physician.  The following conduct 
  1.14  is prohibited and is grounds for disciplinary action: 
  1.15     (a) Failure to demonstrate the qualifications or satisfy 
  1.16  the requirements for a license contained in this chapter or 
  1.17  rules of the board.  The burden of proof shall be upon the 
  1.18  applicant to demonstrate such qualifications or satisfaction of 
  1.19  such requirements. 
  1.20     (b) Obtaining a license by fraud or cheating, or attempting 
  1.21  to subvert the licensing examination process.  Conduct which 
  1.22  subverts or attempts to subvert the licensing examination 
  1.23  process includes, but is not limited to:  (1) conduct which 
  1.24  violates the security of the examination materials, such as 
  1.25  removing examination materials from the examination room or 
  1.26  having unauthorized possession of any portion of a future, 
  2.1   current, or previously administered licensing examination; (2) 
  2.2   conduct which violates the standard of test administration, such 
  2.3   as communicating with another examinee during administration of 
  2.4   the examination, copying another examinee's answers, permitting 
  2.5   another examinee to copy one's answers, or possessing 
  2.6   unauthorized materials; or (3) impersonating an examinee or 
  2.7   permitting an impersonator to take the examination on one's own 
  2.8   behalf. 
  2.9      (c) Conviction, during the previous five years, of a felony 
  2.10  reasonably related to the practice of medicine or osteopathy.  
  2.11  Conviction as used in this subdivision shall include a 
  2.12  conviction of an offense which if committed in this state would 
  2.13  be deemed a felony without regard to its designation elsewhere, 
  2.14  or a criminal proceeding where a finding or verdict of guilt is 
  2.15  made or returned but the adjudication of guilt is either 
  2.16  withheld or not entered thereon.  
  2.17     (d) Revocation, suspension, restriction, limitation, or 
  2.18  other disciplinary action against the person's medical license 
  2.19  in another state or jurisdiction, failure to report to the board 
  2.20  that charges regarding the person's license have been brought in 
  2.21  another state or jurisdiction, or having been refused a license 
  2.22  by any other state or jurisdiction.  
  2.23     (e) Advertising which is false or misleading, which 
  2.24  violates any rule of the board, or which claims without 
  2.25  substantiation the positive cure of any disease, or professional 
  2.26  superiority to or greater skill than that possessed by another 
  2.27  physician. 
  2.28     (f) Violating a rule promulgated by the board or an order 
  2.29  of the board, a state, or federal law which relates to the 
  2.30  practice of medicine, or in part regulates the practice of 
  2.31  medicine including without limitation sections 148A.02, 609.344, 
  2.32  and 609.345, or a state or federal narcotics or controlled 
  2.33  substance law. 
  2.34     (g) Engaging in any unethical conduct; conduct likely to 
  2.35  deceive, defraud, or harm the public, or demonstrating a willful 
  2.36  or careless disregard for the health, welfare or safety of a 
  3.1   patient; or medical practice which is professionally 
  3.2   incompetent, in that it may create unnecessary danger to any 
  3.3   patient's life, health, or safety, in any of which cases, proof 
  3.4   of actual injury need not be established. 
  3.5      (h) Failure to supervise a physician's assistant or failure 
  3.6   to supervise a physician under any agreement with the board. 
  3.7      (i) Aiding or abetting an unlicensed person in the practice 
  3.8   of medicine, except that it is not a violation of this paragraph 
  3.9   for a physician to employ, supervise, or delegate functions to a 
  3.10  qualified person who may or may not be required to obtain a 
  3.11  license or registration to provide health services if that 
  3.12  person is practicing within the scope of that person's license 
  3.13  or registration or delegated authority. 
  3.14     (j) Adjudication as mentally incompetent, mentally ill or 
  3.15  mentally retarded, or as a chemically dependent person, a person 
  3.16  dangerous to the public, a sexually dangerous person, or a 
  3.17  person who has a sexual psychopathic personality by a court of 
  3.18  competent jurisdiction, within or without this state.  Such 
  3.19  adjudication shall automatically suspend a license for the 
  3.20  duration thereof unless the board orders otherwise. 
  3.21     (k) Engaging in unprofessional conduct.  Unprofessional 
  3.22  conduct shall include any departure from or the failure to 
  3.23  conform to the minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing 
  3.24  medical practice in which proceeding actual injury to a patient 
  3.25  need not be established. 
  3.26     (l) Inability to practice medicine with reasonable skill 
  3.27  and safety to patients by reason of illness, drunkenness, use of 
  3.28  drugs, narcotics, chemicals or any other type of material or as 
  3.29  a result of any mental or physical condition, including 
  3.30  deterioration through the aging process or loss of motor skills. 
  3.31     (m) Revealing a privileged communication from or relating 
  3.32  to a patient except when otherwise required or permitted by law. 
  3.33     (n) Failure by a doctor of osteopathy to identify the 
  3.34  school of healing in the professional use of the doctor's name 
  3.35  by one of the following terms:  osteopathic physician and 
  3.36  surgeon, doctor of osteopathy, or D.O. 
  4.1      (o) Improper management of medical records, including 
  4.2   failure to maintain adequate medical records, to comply with a 
  4.3   patient's request made pursuant to section 144.335 or to furnish 
  4.4   a medical record or report required by law.  
  4.5      (p) Fee splitting, including without limitation: 
  4.6      (1) paying, offering to pay, receiving, or agreeing to 
  4.7   receive, a commission, rebate, or remuneration, directly or 
  4.8   indirectly, primarily for the referral of patients or the 
  4.9   prescription of drugs or devices; 
  4.10     (2) dividing fees with another physician or a professional 
  4.11  corporation, unless the division is in proportion to the 
  4.12  services provided and the responsibility assumed by each 
  4.13  professional and the physician has disclosed the terms of the 
  4.14  division; 
  4.15     (3) referring a patient to any health care provider as 
  4.16  defined in section 144.335 in which the referring physician has 
  4.17  a significant financial interest unless the physician has 
  4.18  disclosed the physician's own financial interest; and 
  4.19     (4) dispensing for profit any drug or device, unless the 
  4.20  physician has disclosed the physician's own profit interest. 
  4.21  The physician must make the disclosures required in this clause 
  4.22  in advance and in writing to the patient and must include in the 
  4.23  disclosure a statement that the patient is free to choose a 
  4.24  different health care provider.  This clause does not apply to 
  4.25  the distribution of revenues from a partnership, group practice, 
  4.26  nonprofit corporation, or professional corporation to its 
  4.27  partners, shareholders, members, or employees if the revenues 
  4.28  consist only of fees for services performed by the physician or 
  4.29  under a physician's direct supervision, or to the division or 
  4.30  distribution of prepaid or capitated health care premiums, or 
  4.31  fee-for-service withhold amounts paid under contracts 
  4.32  established under other state law.  
  4.33     (q) Engaging in abusive or fraudulent billing practices, 
  4.34  including violations of the federal Medicare and Medicaid laws 
  4.35  or state medical assistance laws.  
  4.36     (r) Becoming addicted or habituated to a drug or intoxicant.
  5.1      (s) Prescribing a drug or device for other than medically 
  5.2   accepted therapeutic or experimental or investigative purposes 
  5.3   authorized by a state or federal agency or referring a patient 
  5.4   to any health care provider as defined in section 144.335 for 
  5.5   services or tests not medically indicated at the time of 
  5.6   referral.  
  5.7      (t) Engaging in conduct with a patient which is sexual or 
  5.8   may reasonably be interpreted by the patient as sexual, or in 
  5.9   any verbal behavior which is seductive or sexually demeaning to 
  5.10  a patient.  
  5.11     (u) Failure to make reports as required by section 147.111 
  5.12  or to cooperate with an investigation of the board as required 
  5.13  by section 147.131. 
  5.14     (v) Knowingly providing false or misleading information 
  5.15  that is directly related to the care of that patient unless done 
  5.16  for an accepted therapeutic purpose such as the administration 
  5.17  of a placebo. 
  5.18     (w) Aiding suicide or aiding attempted suicide in violation 
  5.19  of section 609.215 as established by any of the following: 
  5.20     (1) a copy of the record of criminal conviction or plea of 
  5.21  guilty for a felony in violation of section 609.215, subdivision 
  5.22  1 or 2; 
  5.23     (2) a copy of the record of a judgment of contempt of court 
  5.24  for violating an injunction issued under section 609.215, 
  5.25  subdivision 4; 
  5.26     (3) a copy of the record of a judgment assessing damages 
  5.27  under section 609.215, subdivision 5; or 
  5.28     (4) a finding by the board that the person violated section 
  5.29  609.215, subdivision 1 or 2.  The board shall investigate any 
  5.30  complaint of a violation of section 609.215, subdivision 1 or 2. 
  5.31     (x) Practice of a board-regulated profession under lapsed 
  5.32  or nonrenewed credentials. 
  5.33     (y) Failure to repay a state or federally secured student 
  5.34  loan in accordance with the provisions of the loan, or failure 
  5.35  to repay state or federal funds disbursed through the National 
  5.36  Health Services Corps state loan repayment program and all 
  6.1   applicable financial penalties as required under section 
  6.2   144.1491 if a physician's service obligation under the program 
  6.3   is not fulfilled.