Senate Bill No. 537
(By Senators Hunter and Kessler)
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[Introduced February 9, 2007; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §30-7-15a, §30-7-15b and §30-7-15c of
the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
expanding prescriptive authority of advanced nurse
practitioners; and removing requirement for collaborative
relationship.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §30-7-15a, §30-7-15b and §30-7-15c of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 7. REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL NURSES.
§30-7-15a. Prescriptive authority for prescription drugs;
coordination with board of pharmacy.
(a) The board may, in its discretion, authorize an advanced
nurse practitioner to prescribe prescription drugs in a
collaborative relationship with a physician licensed to practice in West Virginia and in accordance with applicable state and federal
laws. An authorized advanced nurse practitioner may write or sign
prescriptions or transmit prescriptions verbally or by other means
of communication.
(b) For purposes of this section an agreement to a
collaborative relationship for prescriptive practice between a
physician and an advanced nurse practitioner shall be set forth in
writing. Verification of such agreement shall be filed with the
board by the advanced nurse practitioner. The board shall forward
a copy of such verification to the board of medicine. Collaborative
agreements shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) Mutually agreed upon written guidelines or protocols for
prescriptive authority as it applies to the advanced nurse
practitioner's clinical practice;
(2) Statements describing the individual and shared
responsibilities of the advanced nurse practitioner and the
physician pursuant to the collaborative agreement between them;
(3) Periodic and joint evaluation of prescriptive practice;
and
(4) Periodic and joint review and updating of the written
guidelines or protocols.
(c) (b) The board shall promulgate legislative rules in
accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code governing the eligibility, and extent, and procedures regarding the to which an advanced nurse practitioner may
prescribe drugs prescriptive authority and privileges of advanced
nurse practitioners. Such rules shall provide, at a minimum, a
state formulary classifying those categories of drugs which shall
not be prescribed by advanced nurse practitioners, including, but
not limited to, Schedules I and II of the Uniform Controlled
Substances Act, anticoagulants, antineoplastics, radio-
pharmaceuticals and general anesthetics. Drugs listed under
schedule III shall be limited to a seventy-two hour supply without
refill.
(d) The board shall consult with other appropriate boards for
the development of the formulary.
(e) (c) The board shall transmit to the Board of Pharmacy a
list of all advanced nurse practitioners with prescriptive
authority. The list shall include:
(1) The name of the authorized advanced nurse practitioner;
(2) The prescriber's identification number assigned by the
board; and
(3) The effective date of prescriptive authority.
§30-7-15b. Eligibility for prescriptive authority; application;
fee.
An advanced nurse practitioner who applies for authorization
to prescribe drugs shall:
(a) Be licensed and certified in West Virginia as an advanced nurse practitioner holding a baccalaureate degree in science or the
arts as a registered professional nurse in West Virginia and
recognized in West Virginia as an advanced nurse practitioner with
a graduate degree in nursing from a school of nursing accredited by
a nationally recognized nursing accreditation body approved by the
United States Department of Education;
(b) Not be less than eighteen years of age;
(c) Provide the board with evidence of successful completion
of forty-five contact hours of education in pharmacology and
clinical management of drug therapy under a program approved by the
board, fifteen hours of which shall be completed within the
two-year period immediately before the date of application;
(d) Provide the board with evidence that he or she is a person
of good moral character and not addicted to alcohol or the use of
controlled substances; and
(e) Submit a completed, notarized application to the board,
accompanied by a fee of one hundred twenty-five dollars.
§30-7-15c. Form of prescriptions; termination of authority;
renewal; notification of termination of authority.
(a) Prescriptions authorized by an advanced nurse practitioner
must comply with all applicable state and federal laws; must be
signed by the prescriber with the initials "A.N.P." or the
designated certification title of the prescriber; and must include
the prescriber's identification number assigned by the board.
(b) Prescriptive authorization shall be terminated if the
advanced nurse practitioner has:
(1) Not maintained current authorization as an advanced nurse
practitioner; or
(2) Prescribed outside the advanced nurse practitioner's scope
of practice or has prescribed drugs for other than therapeutic
purposes. or
(3) Has not filed verification of a collaborative agreement
with the board.
(c) Prescriptive authority for an advanced nurse practitioner
must be renewed biennially. Documentation of eight contact hours
of pharmacology during the previous two years must be submitted at
the time of renewal.
(d) The board shall notify the board of pharmacy and the board
of medicine within twenty-four hours after termination of, or
change in, an advanced nurse practitioner's prescriptive authority.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand prescription
authority for advanced nurse practitioners and to remove the
requirement for a collaborative relationship between the advanced
nurse practitioner and a physician.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.