House Bill 388

AN ACT TO BE KNOWN AS THE ALEXANDER BLOUIN MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL REFERRAL REQUIREMENT ACT; TO MAKE CERTAIN LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS; TO REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL LICENSURE TO PREPARE AND APPROVE A MEDICAL REFERRAL FORM TO BE USED BY PHYSICIANS FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE AND TIMELY TRANSFER OF NECESSARY PATIENT INFORMATION DURING THE PROCESS OF REFERRING A PATIENT FROM ONE PHYSICIAN TO ANOTHER PHYSICIAN; TO REQUIRE ALL LICENSED MISSISSIPPI PHYSICIANS, WHEN REFERRING A PATIENT TO ANOTHER PHYSICIAN, TO PROVIDE FULLY COMPLETED MEDICAL REFERRAL FORMS TO THE RECEIVING PHYSICIAN AT THE TIME THAT THE PHYSICIAN REFERS THE PATIENT TO THE RECEIVING PHYSICIAN; TO REQUIRE THE REFERRING PHYSICIAN TO PREPARE AND TRANSMIT THE MEDICAL REFERRAL FORM TO THE RECEIVING PHYSICIAN IN WRITTEN AND ELECTRONIC FORM; TO PRESCRIBE THE MINIMUM INFORMATION THAT THE REFERRING PHYSICIAN MUST INCLUDE IN THE MEDICAL REFERRAL FORM; TO PROVIDE THAT THE BOARD SHALL MONITOR AND ENFORCE COMPLIANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS ACT; TO PROVIDE THAT IF A PHYSICIAN CONSISTENTLY FAILS TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS ACT, THE PHYSICIAN IS SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATE DISCIPLINARY ACTION FROM THE BOARD; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Alexander Blouin Mississippi Medical Referral Requirement Act."

SECTION 2. The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) The failure to act in a crucial medical situation or other medical emergency, can lead to unnecessary deaths. Specifically, with regard to medical care, a proper and comprehensive referral greatly increases a person's chance of survival. Yet, despite this importance, there are numerous medical reports that indicate that Americans suffer needlessly due to unnecessarily caused medical necessity, urgency or emergency related to improper transfer of information.

(b) In addition to the unnecessary deaths resulting from lack of timely and comprehensive medical information, there are also many other medical emergencies where immediate aid is required, but unfortunately, not administered. Unfortunately, many of these victims pass away unnecessarily, and would have been able to survive if proper medical records were obtained and resulting aid was promptly administered. For instance, the Red Cross reported that in 2008, one hundred eighteen thousand (118,000) Americans passed away from unintentional injuries, became disabled due to the unintentional injuries. Much of this loss of life and disability would not occur if proper medical referrals were given.

(c) It is not always possible to extensively study a patient's extensive medical history encompassing sometimes hundreds of pages of information when treating a critical, time-sensitive medical need. A concise summary, prepared by one (1) doctor to be given to another doctor, would provide the critical information required in time-sensitive and other medical situations.

(d) In order to gain this crucial, life-saving knowledge and information, it is the intent of this act to provide the necessary and accessible patient medical information and history required to assist in proper diagnosis and treatment of all patient medical situations, including urgent and serious, as well as emergency situations, and to attempt to ensure that comprehensive and timely medical information is transferred electronically, by means of standard approved forms at the time of referral.

(e) It is the intent of this act (i) to save lives by increasing the likelihood of proper and timely transference of medical records, (ii) to facilitate and ensure that the necessary and accessible medical information and history required in the event of an emergency or other medical necessity are provided, and (iii) to save lives by providing doctors with the immediately accessible and concise essential information necessary for treatment, particularly in critical or emergency situations.

SECTION 3. (1) As used in this act, the following terms shall be defined as provided in this section:

(a) "Board" means the State Board of Medical Licensure.

(b) "Medical referral form" means a standard form prepared and approved by the State Board of Medical Licensure to be used by physicians for the comprehensive and timely transfer of necessary patient information during the process of referring a patient from one (1) physician to another physician.

(2) The board shall prepare and approve a medical referral form to be used by physicians for the comprehensive and timely transfer of necessary patient information during the process of referring a patient from one (1) physician to another physician. In addition, the board shall prescribe specific requirements for referrals, including time frames, which shall be followed in emergency medical situations.

(3) All licensed Mississippi physicians, when referring a patient to another physician, shall provide fully completed medical referral forms to the receiving physician at the time that the physician refers the patient to the receiving physician. The referring physician shall prepare and transmit the medical referral form to the receiving physician in written and electronic form.

(4) The referring physician shall include in the medical referral form the most up-to-date medical information and records concerning the full scope of the patient's records, including, but not limited to the following items: medications used in the current treatment of the patient, including all allergies to specific medications; a summary of the patient's major medical history, presenting symptoms, reason for referral, specific requests and disposition; and any other information required by the board.

(5) The board shall monitor and enforce compliance with the requirements of this act. If a physician consistently fails to comply with the requirements of this act, the physician is subject to appropriate disciplinary action from the board.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after March 26, 2017.