ATHLETIC TRAINERS:  REDUCE LICENSE FEE

AND MODIFY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

House Bill 4263 as introduced

Sponsor:  Rep. Andrea LaFontaine

Committee:  Regulatory Reform                            (Enacted as Public Act 166 of 2015)

Complete to 4-27-15

SUMMARY:

House Bill 4263 would revise sections of the Public Health Code regarding the licensing of athletic trainers to reduce the annual license fee to $100 from $200, require applicants to successfully complete a course on the use of an automated external defibrillator for health care professionals or emergency services personnel, and reduce the number of continuing education hours required within each three-year licensing cycle to 75 hours from 80 hours.  The bill would take effect 90 days after the date it is enacted.

To renew an athletic trainer license, an individual would have to provide proof of completion of a course of training on automated external defibrillator use for health care professionals or emergency services personnel. The bill also would remove the requirement for a course on "foreign body obstruction of an airway" while retaining the requirement for courses on first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

In the Public Health Code, the practice of athletic training means the treatment of an individual for risk management and injury prevention, the clinical evaluation and assessment of an individual for an injury or illness, the immediate care and treatment of an individual for an injury or illness, and the rehabilitation and reconditioning of an individual's injury or illness, as long as those activities are within the rules promulgated by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs under the code. The practice of athletic training does not include the practice of physical therapy, the practice of medicine, the practice of osteopathic medicine and surgery, the practice of chiropractic, or medical diagnosis or treatment.

FISCAL IMPACT:

House Bill 4263 would have a significant fiscal impact on the Bureau of Health Care Services (BHCS) within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) to the extent that HB 4263 reduces the annualized amount of the licensure fee levied on athletic trainers from $200 to $100. LARA indicated that there were 1,269 licensed athletic trainers in FY 2013-14, thus HB 4263 would reduce revenue collected by the BHCS by approximately $126,900 per annum.

According to figures provided by LARA over the past few years, the licensure fee generated revenue in excess of the expenditures to support the regulation athletic trainers by an estimated $200,272 during FY 2013-14, or by $158 per licensee. Accordingly, LARA indicated that to "rightsize" the fee, it should be reduced to approximately $42.

However, LARA provided information on "rightsizing" the licensure fee for athletic trainers concurrently with licensure fees levied on all other health professionals. While, the licensure fees for athletic trainers, along with several other licensed health professions, are excessive vis-à-vis expenditures, the fees levied on a few professions (dentistry, nursing, social work, and veterinary medicine) are insufficient to offset regulatory expenditures. Revenues generated by licensure fees levied on each profession are deposited into the Health Professions Regulatory Fund (HPRF) from which expenditures are made to support regulation of all health professions. Consequently, the health professions for which licensure fees are excessive are subsidizing the regulatory costs associated with professions whose fees are insufficient.

                                                                                                                       

Legislative Analyst:    Josh Roesner

                                                                                                Fiscal Analyst:   Paul Holland

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.