House health committee approves “lean, mean” policy bill

Lean, mean and bipartisan.

That is how Rep. Jeff Backer (R-Browns Valley) describes the health policy bill approved Wednesday night by the House Health Finance and Policy Committee.

As amended, the bill would modify laws about scope of practice for optometrists, require maternal death studies, and necessitate informed consent when medical students perform sensitive exams.

“I want to thank colleagues on both sides of the aisle for moving this to the General Register. It is a team effort,” said Backer, the sponsor of HF2464.

The bill would expand optometrists’ ability to prescribe steroids and anti-viral medications. It would also allow licensed optometrists to perform injections into some parts of the eye – a provision that received the most debate Wednesday and when the underlying bill was heard in committee.

Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester) unsuccessfully offered an amendment to delete language that expands the scope of practice for optometrists to injections, saying she is not convinced that all licensed optometrists would have enough supervised injections to ensure patient safety.

Ophthalmologists are trained to do surgery on the eye and optometrists are not, said Rep. Ned Carroll (DFL-Plymouth). “One thing could go wrong and that would be the end of a patient’s eyesight.”  

Rep. Robert Bierman (DFL-Apple Valley), who sponsors the original bill, HF1011, said it would allow optometrists to practice as they have been trained, the scope of practice must be updated over time to reflect new training and treatments, and more than 20 states already allow eye injections by optometrists.

[WATCH: March 26 testimony and discussion on HF1011]

Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar (R-Fredenberg Township) is disappointed the final bill does not include provisions that would extend the time a temporary nurse’s license is valid. She said trained, board-certified nurses are being sidelined because of delays by the licensing board authorizing permanent licenses.

What’s in the bill

The bill would require informed consent before a health professional, medical student or resident performs a pelvic, breast, urogenital or rectal examination. Modified from the original bill, it no longer would make violation the gross misdemeanor, but grounds for disciplinary action.

Additionally, the Safe Place for Newborns statute would be modified to include fire stations that are staffed 24 hours. Newborns could also be relinquished at designated safe places that have newborn safety devices installed. The bill would also bar prosecution of a person for giving up a newborn at a safe location.  

Other provisions in the bill would:

• allow some emergency response data to be shared with the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area’s Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program;
• require, rather than permit, the Health Department to conduct maternal death studies;
• modify physician assistants’ licensure requirements so their collaborative practice may be with physicians licensed in places other than Minnesota; and
• restructure the Minnesota Higher Education Facilities Authority to create the Minnesota Health and Education Facilities Authority and allow capital investments for health care projects up to $2.75 billion.

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The following are selected bills that have been incorporated in part or in whole into the omnibus health policy bill:

• HF89 (Bahner)
• HF129 (Repinski)
• HF1011 (Bierman)
• HF1105 (Agbaje)
• HF1165 (Bahner)
• HF1429 (Liebling)
• HF1903 (Novotny)
• HF2371 (Robbins)