Minnesota Session Laws - 2002, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 362-H.F.No. 3359 
                  An act relating to health; modifying certain protocols 
                  for nurses; authorizing transfer of certain nursing 
                  facility beds; providing for the administration of 
                  epinephrine on emergency ambulance calls; amending 
                  Minnesota Statutes 2000, sections 148.235, by adding 
                  subdivisions; 151.37, subdivision 2; Minnesota 
                  Statutes 2001 Supplement, sections 148.284; 256B.437, 
                  by adding a subdivision. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 148.235, is 
        amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
           Subd. 8.  [PRESCRIPTION BY PROTOCOL.] A registered nurse 
        may implement a protocol that does not reference a specific 
        patient and results in a prescription of a legend drug that has 
        been predetermined and delegated by a licensed practitioner as 
        defined under section 151.01, subdivision 23, when caring for a 
        patient whose condition falls within the protocol and when the 
        protocol specifies the circumstances under which the drug is to 
        be prescribed or administered. 
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 148.235, is 
        amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
           Subd. 9.  [VACCINE BY PROTOCOL.] A nurse may implement a 
        protocol that does not reference a specific patient and results 
        in the administration of a vaccine that has been predetermined 
        and delegated by a licensed practitioner as defined in section 
        151.01, subdivision 23, when caring for a patient whose 
        characteristics fall within the protocol and when the protocol 
        specifies the contraindications for implementation, including 
        patients or populations of patients for whom the vaccine must 
        not be administered and the conditions under which the vaccine 
        must not be administered. 
           Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2001 Supplement, section 
        148.284, is amended to read: 
           148.284 [CERTIFICATION OF ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED 
        NURSES.] 
           (a) No person shall practice advanced practice registered 
        nursing or use any title, abbreviation, or other designation 
        tending to imply that the person is an advanced practice 
        registered nurse, clinical nurse specialist, nurse anesthetist, 
        nurse-midwife, or nurse practitioner unless the person is 
        certified for such advanced practice registered nursing by a 
        national nurse certification organization. 
           (b) Paragraph (a) does not apply to an advanced practice 
        registered nurse who is within six months after completion of an 
        advanced practice registered nurse course of study and is 
        awaiting certification, provided that the person has not 
        previously failed the certification examination.  
           (c) An advanced practice registered nurse who has completed 
        a formal course of study as an advanced practice registered 
        nurse and has been certified by a national nurse certification 
        organization prior to January 1, 1999, may continue to practice 
        in the field of nursing in which the advanced practice 
        registered nurse is practicing as of July 1, 1999, regardless of 
        the type of certification held if the advanced practice 
        registered nurse is not eligible for the proper certification. 
           (d) Prior to July 1, 2007, a clinical nurse specialist may 
        petition the board for waiver from the certification requirement 
        in paragraph (a) if the clinical nurse specialist is 
        academically prepared as a clinical nurse specialist in a 
        specialty area for which there is no certification within the 
        clinical nurse specialist role and specialty or a related 
        specialty.  The board may determine that an available 
        certification as a clinical nurse specialist in a related 
        specialty must be obtained in lieu of the specific specialty or 
        subspecialty.  The petitioner must be academically prepared as a 
        clinical nurse specialist in a specific field of clinical nurse 
        specialist practice with a master's degree in nursing that 
        included clinical experience in the clinical specialty, and must 
        have 1,000 hours of supervised clinical experience in the 
        clinical specialty for which the individual was academically 
        prepared with a minimum of 500 hours of supervised clinical 
        practice after graduation.  The board may grant a nonrenewable 
        permit for no longer than 12 months for the supervised 
        postgraduate clinical experience.  The board may renew the 
        waiver for three-year periods provided the clinical nurse 
        specialist continues to be ineligible for certification as a 
        clinical nurse specialist by an organization acceptable to the 
        board. 
           [EFFECTIVE DATE.] This section is effective July 1, 2002. 
           Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 151.37, 
        subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 2.  [PRESCRIBING AND FILING.] (a) A licensed 
        practitioner in the course of professional practice only, may 
        prescribe, administer, and dispense a legend drug, and may cause 
        the same to be administered by a nurse, a physician assistant, 
        or medical student or resident under the practitioner's 
        direction and supervision, and may cause a person who is an 
        appropriately certified, registered, or licensed health care 
        professional to prescribe, dispense, and administer the same 
        within the expressed legal scope of the person's practice as 
        defined in Minnesota Statutes.  A licensed practitioner may 
        prescribe a legend drug, without reference to a specific 
        patient, by directing a registered nurse, pursuant to section 
        148.235, subdivisions 8 and 9, physician assistant, or medical 
        student or resident to adhere to a particular practice guideline 
        or protocol when treating patients whose condition falls within 
        such guideline or protocol, and when such guideline or protocol 
        specifies the circumstances under which the legend drug is to be 
        prescribed and administered.  An individual who verbally, 
        electronically, or otherwise transmits a written, oral, or 
        electronic order, as an agent of a prescriber, shall not be 
        deemed to have prescribed the legend drug.  This paragraph 
        applies to a physician assistant only if the physician assistant 
        meets the requirements of section 147A.18. 
           (b) A licensed practitioner that dispenses for profit a 
        legend drug that is to be administered orally, is ordinarily 
        dispensed by a pharmacist, and is not a vaccine, must file with 
        the practitioner's licensing board a statement indicating that 
        the practitioner dispenses legend drugs for profit, the general 
        circumstances under which the practitioner dispenses for profit, 
        and the types of legend drugs generally dispensed.  It is 
        unlawful to dispense legend drugs for profit after July 31, 
        1990, unless the statement has been filed with the appropriate 
        licensing board.  For purposes of this paragraph, "profit" means 
        (1) any amount received by the practitioner in excess of the 
        acquisition cost of a legend drug for legend drugs that are 
        purchased in prepackaged form, or (2) any amount received by the 
        practitioner in excess of the acquisition cost of a legend drug 
        plus the cost of making the drug available if the legend drug 
        requires compounding, packaging, or other treatment.  The 
        statement filed under this paragraph is public data under 
        section 13.03.  This paragraph does not apply to a licensed 
        doctor of veterinary medicine or a registered pharmacist.  Any 
        person other than a licensed practitioner with the authority to 
        prescribe, dispense, and administer a legend drug under 
        paragraph (a) shall not dispense for profit.  To dispense for 
        profit does not include dispensing by a community health clinic 
        when the profit from dispensing is used to meet operating 
        expenses. 
           Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 2001 Supplement, section 
        256B.437, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
           Subd. 9.  [TRANSFER OF BEDS.] The board of commissioners of 
        Saint Louis county may amend their planned closure rate 
        adjustment application to allow up to 50 beds of a 159-licensed 
        bed county-owned nursing facility that is in the process of 
        closing to be transferred to a hospital-attached nursing 
        facility in Aurora and up to 50 beds to a 235-bed nursing 
        facility in Duluth, and may also assign all or a portion of the 
        planned closure rate adjustment that would be received as a 
        result of closure to the Aurora facility or the Duluth facility. 
           Sec. 6.  [EPINEPHRINE ON EMERGENCY AMBULANCE CALLS.] 
           The emergency medical services regulatory board, in 
        cooperation with the Minnesota Nurses Association, the Minnesota 
        Medical Association, the American College of Emergency 
        Physicians, and the Minnesota Ambulance Association, shall 
        establish a plan under which epinephrine is available on 
        emergency ambulance calls made in Minnesota on or after 
        September 1, 2002.  The emergency medical services regulatory 
        board shall report to the legislature by January 15, 2003, on 
        the success of the policy of making epinephrine fully available. 
           [EFFECTIVE DATE.] This section is effective the day 
        following final enactment. 
           Presented to the governor May 6, 2002 
           Signed by the governor May 8, 2002, 11:25 a.m.