Bill Summary for Bill Number SB09-012

Date: 02/12/2009

Final
BILL SUMMARY for SB09-012

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Votes: View-->	Action Taken:
Adopt prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment N). Th Adopt prepared amendment L.002 (Attachment O). Th Refer Senate Bill 09-012, as amended, to Committee	Pass Without Objection Pass Without Objection PASS

05:22 PM -- Senate Bill 09-012

Senator Morse introduced Senate Bill 09-012. Senate Bill 09-012 authorizes the creation of professional review committees to review and investigate the quality and appropriateness of patient care provided by, and the professional conduct of, health care providers in specified health care professions. He distributed amendments L.001 and L.002 (Attachments N and O). Amendment L.001 strikes everything below the enacting clause of the bill. The amendment limits the scope of the bill to paramedics that are part of the trauma care system. Currently, only hospital-based paramedics are permitted to engage in peer review activities. He explained why he was seeking to limit the scope of the bill. Senator Morse further explained the provisions of amendment L.001. He stated that there is reluctance to create quality management programs to review instances of inappropriate care because there is fear that the processes could be used as part of a lawsuit. He explained Amendment L.002 clarifies language in Amendment L.001 that concerns corrections of errors in medical records that are discovered during quality management functions. Senator Schultheis asked for clarification regarding the portion of the bill that requires that the medical record be corrected. Senator Morse further elaborated on certain circumstances in which the medical record would be corrected.

05:33 PM -- Dr. David Ross, Penrose Hospital, testified regarding the bill. He stated that emergency medical services (EMS) providers often care for very vulnerable patients, and while EMS providers to limit medical errors, some errors still do occur. He stated that peer review activities that review instances of medical errors or inappropriate procedures may help preemptively improve patient care. He stated that quality improvement in EMS is a big issue of discussion statewide. He gave examples of other states that have implemented similar provisions.

05:39 PM -- Randy Kuykendall, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, testified that the department is neutral on the bill, but has been involved with the drafting of the bill. He stated that the bill will include the EMS community in quality improvement activities that already occur within the trauma system. He stated that trauma centers are already required to have quality improvement programs, and it seemed to make good sense to provide peer review protections to EMS providers through that framework. He stated that the bill will not increase the workload of the department with regard to the review of trauma facilities.


BILL:	SB09-012
TIME:	05:42:25 PM
MOVED:	Morse
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment N). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Carroll M.
	Lundberg
	Mitchell
	Morse
	Newell
	Schultheis
	Tochtrop
	Boyd

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	SB09-012
TIME:	05:42:41 PM
MOVED:	Morse
MOTION:	Adopt prepared amendment L.002 (Attachment O). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Carroll M.
	Lundberg
	Mitchell
	Morse
	Newell
	Schultheis
	Tochtrop
	Boyd

Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	SB09-012
TIME:	05:43:28 PM
MOVED:	Morse
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 09-012, as amended, to Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a 7-0 roll call vote, with one member excused.
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Carroll M.	Yes
	Lundberg	Yes
	Mitchell	Excused
	Morse	Yes
	Newell	Yes
	Schultheis	Yes
	Tochtrop	Yes
	Boyd	Yes

Final YES: 7 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS