House Bill 1521

(As Sent to Governor)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-115-43, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH AUTHORIZES THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER TO CREATE A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE TO PROVIDE CARE FOR ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN AT THE BLAIR E. BATSON HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN, TO DELETE THE REPEALER; TO AMEND SECTION 41-111-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXTEND THE DATE OF THE REPEALER ON THE CHILD DEATH REVIEW PANEL; TO AMEND SECTION 43-13-119, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXTEND THE DATE OF THE REPEALER ON THE DUTY OF THE DIVISION OF MEDICAID TO IMPLEMENT A DIALYSIS TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTION 73-26-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXTEND THE REPEALER ON THE AUTHORITY TO GRANT TEMPORARY LICENSES TO PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 37-115-43, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

37-115-43. (1) The University of Mississippi Medical Center in collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Office of the Attorney General is authorized and empowered to establish a Center of Excellence (Center), to provide care for abused and neglected children at the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children located in Jackson, Mississippi, where suspected victims of child maltreatment referred by the Department of Human Services or law enforcement will receive comprehensive physical examinations conducted by medical professionals who specialize in child maltreatment. The University of Mississippi Medical Center shall promulgate such policies as may be necessary and desirable to carry out the programs of the Center. The Center shall serve as a resource for the assessment, investigation and prosecution of child maltreatment. The Center shall work in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General, the Mississippi Department of Human Services and other such state agencies and entities that provide services to children, to ensure that CARE Clinic services are provided in a uniform fashion throughout the state.

(2) The Department of Pediatrics may use the Center for educational and outreach programs, telemedicine consultations, to develop satellite clinics in other locations in the state in cooperation with the local community or private hospital when applicable, and to conduct major research initiatives in child maltreatment.

(3) The Center of Excellence shall provide services to maltreated children and comply with national certification standards as necessary to provide services to the Department of Human Services, the youth courts, state child advocacy centers, district attorney's offices and law enforcement agencies.

(4) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Children's Justice Fund. The State Treasurer shall transfer into said special fund any funds returned to the State Treasury by the MCI WorldCom Settlement by the Mississippi Children's Justice Center pursuant to agreement with the State Auditor. The University of Mississippi Medical Center shall expend funds pursuant to appropriation therefor by the Legislature for the support and maintenance of the Center. The University of Mississippi Medical Center is authorized to accept any and all grants, donations or matching funds from private, public or federal sources in order to add to, improve and enlarge the physical facilities of the Center and to expend any such funds for the support and maintenance of the Center.

* * *

SECTION 2. Section 41-111-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

41-111-1. (1) There is created the Child Death Review Panel, whose primary purpose is to foster the reduction of infant and child mortality and morbidity in Mississippi and to improve the health status of infants and children.

(2) The Child Death Review Panel shall be composed of fifteen (15) voting members: the State Medical Examiner or his representative, a pathologist on staff at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, an appointee of the Lieutenant Governor, an appointee of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one (1) representative from each of the following: the State Coroners Association, the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Office of Vital Statistics in the State Department of Health, the Attorney General's Office, the State Sheriff's Association, the Mississippi Police Chiefs Association, the Department of Human Services, the Children's Advocacy Center, the State Chapter of the March of Dimes, the State SIDS Alliance, and Compassionate Friends.

(3) The Chairman of the Child Death Review Panel shall be elected annually by the Review Panel membership. The Review Panel shall develop and implement such procedures and policies necessary for its operation, including obtaining and protecting confidential records from the agencies and officials specified in subsection (4) of this section. The Review Panel shall be assigned to the State Department of Health for administrative purposes only, and the department shall designate staff to assist the Review Panel.

(4) The Child Death Review Panel shall submit a report annually to the Chairmen of the House Public Health and Human Services Committee and the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on or before December 1. The report shall include the numbers, causes and relevant demographic information on child and infant deaths in Mississippi, and appropriate recommendations to the Legislature on how to most effectively direct state resources to decrease infant and child deaths in Mississippi. Data for the Review Panel's review and reporting shall be provided to the Review Panel, upon the request of the Review Panel, by the State Medical Examiner's Office, State Department of Health, Department of Human Services, medical examiners, coroners, health care providers, law enforcement agencies, any other agencies or officials having information that is necessary for the Review Panel to carry out its duties under this section. The State Department of Health shall also be responsible for printing and distributing the annual report(s) on child and infant deaths in Mississippi.

(5) This section shall stand repealed on July 1, 2013.

SECTION 3. Section 43-13-119, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

43-13-119. (1) The Division of Medicaid shall immediately design and implement a temporary program to provide nonemergency transportation to locations for necessary dialysis services for end stage renal disease patients who are sixty-five (65) years of age or older or are disabled as determined under Section 1614(a)(3) of the federal Social Security Act, as amended, whose income did not exceed one hundred thirty-five percent (135%) of the nonfarm official poverty level as defined by the Office of Management and Budget, and whose resources did not exceed those established by the division as of December 31, 2005, whose eligibility was covered under the former category of eligibility known as PLADs (Poverty Level Aged and Disabled).

(2) The transportation services under the program shall be provided by any reasonable provider, which may include (a) public entities or (b) private entities and individuals who are in the business of providing nonemergency transportation, including faith-based organizations, and the division shall reimburse those entities and individuals or faith-based organizations for providing the transportation services in accordance with a mutually agreed upon reimbursement schedule.

(3) The program shall be funded from monies that are appropriated or otherwise made available to the division. The funds shall be appropriated to the division specifically to cover the cost of this program and shall not be a part of the division's regular appropriation for the operation of the federal-state Medicaid program.

(4) The program is a separate program that is not part of or connected to the Medicaid program, and the relationship of the division to the program is only as the administering agent.

(5) This section shall stand repealed on June 30, 2013.

SECTION 4. Section 73-26-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

73-26-3. (1) The State Board of Medical Licensure shall license and regulate the practice of physician assistants in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(2) All physician assistants who are employed as physician assistants by a Department of Veterans Affairs health care facility, a branch of the United States military or the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and who are practicing as physician assistants in a federal facility in Mississippi on July 1, 2000, and those physician assistants who trained in a Mississippi physician assistant program and have been continuously practicing as a physician assistant in Mississippi since 1976, shall be eligible for licensure if they submit an application for licensure to the board by December 31, 2000. Physician assistants licensed under this subsection will be eligible for license renewal so long as they meet standard renewal requirements.

(3) Before December 31, 2004, applicants for physician assistant licensure, except those licensed under subsection (2) of this section, must be graduates of physician assistant educational programs accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Educational Programs or its predecessor or successor agency, have passed the certification examination administered by the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA), have current NCCPA certification, and possess a minimum of a baccalaureate degree. Physician assistants meeting these licensure requirements will be eligible for license renewal so long as they meet standard renewal requirements.

(4) On or after December 31, 2004, applicants for physician assistant licensure must meet all of the requirements in subsection (3) of this section and, in addition, must have obtained a minimum of a master's degree in a health-related or science field.

(5) Applicants for licensure who meet all licensure requirements except for the master's degree may be granted a temporary license by the board so long as they can show proof of enrollment in a master's program that will, when completed, meet the master's degree requirement. The temporary license will be valid for no longer than one (1) year, and may not be renewed. * * * This subsection shall stand repealed on July 1, 2013.

(6) For new graduate physician assistants and all physician assistants receiving initial licenses in the state, except those licensed under subsection (2) of this section, supervision shall require the on-site presence of a supervising physician for one hundred twenty (120) days.

(7) To qualify for a Mississippi physician assistant license, an applicant must have successfully been cleared for licensure through an investigation that shall consist of a determination as to good moral character and verification that the prospective licensee is not guilty of or in violation of any statutory ground for denial of licensure. To assist the board in conducting its licensure investigation, all applicants shall undergo a fingerprint-based criminal history records check of the Mississippi central criminal database and the Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal history database. Each applicant shall submit a full set of the applicant's fingerprints in a form and manner prescribed by the board, which shall be forwarded to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (department) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Identification Division for this purpose.

Any and all state or national criminal history records information obtained by the board that is not already a matter of public record shall be deemed nonpublic and confidential information restricted to the exclusive use of the board, its members, officers, investigators, agents and attorneys in evaluating the applicant's eligibility or disqualification for licensure, and shall be exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983. Except when introduced into evidence in a hearing before the board to determine licensure, no such information or records related thereto shall, except with the written consent of the applicant or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, be released or otherwise disclosed by the board to any other person or agency.

The board shall provide to the department the fingerprints of the applicant, any additional information that may be required by the department, and a form signed by the applicant consenting to the check of the criminal records and to the use of the fingerprints and other identifying information required by the state or national repositories.

The board shall charge and collect from the applicant, in addition to all other applicable fees and costs, such amount as may be incurred by the board in requesting and obtaining state and national criminal history records information on the applicant.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.