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HB2686 - 572R - H Ver
House Engrossed
physicians; surgical
centers; call coverage
State of Arizona
House of Representatives
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
HOUSE BILL 2686
AN
ACT
Amending sections 32-1401 and 32-1854,
Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to physicians.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section
1.
1. Section
32-1401, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
32-1401.
Definitions
In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Active license" means a valid and
existing license to practice medicine.
2. "Adequate records" means legible
medical records, produced by hand or electronically, containing, at a minimum,
sufficient information to identify the patient, support the diagnosis, justify
the treatment, accurately document the results, indicate advice and cautionary
warnings provided to the patient and provide sufficient information for another
practitioner to assume continuity of the patient's care at any point in the
course of treatment.
3. "Advisory letter" means a
nondisciplinary letter to notify a licensee that either:
(a) While there is insufficient evidence to support
disciplinary action, the board believes that continuation of the activities
that led to the investigation may result in further board action against the
licensee.
(b) The violation is a minor or technical violation
that is not of sufficient merit to warrant disciplinary action.
(c) While the licensee has demonstrated substantial
compliance through rehabilitation or remediation that has mitigated the need
for disciplinary action, the board believes that repetition of the activities
that led to the investigation may result in further board action against the
licensee.
4. "Approved hospital internship, residency or
clinical fellowship program" means a program at a hospital that at the
time the training occurred was legally incorporated and that had a program that
was approved for internship, fellowship or residency training by the
accreditation council for graduate medical education, the association of
American medical colleges, the royal college of physicians and surgeons of
Canada or any similar body in the United States or Canada approved by the board
whose function is that of approving hospitals for internship, fellowship or
residency training.
5. "Approved school of medicine" means any
school or college offering a course of study that, on successful completion,
results in the degree of doctor of medicine and whose course of study has been
approved or accredited by an educational or professional association,
recognized by the board, including the association of American medical
colleges, the association of Canadian medical colleges or the American medical
association.
6. "Board" means the Arizona medical
board.
7. "Completed application" means that the
applicant has supplied all required fees, information and correspondence
requested by the board on forms and in a manner acceptable to the board.
8. "Direct supervision" means that a
physician, physician assistant licensed pursuant to chapter 25 of this title or
nurse practitioner certified pursuant to chapter 15 of this title is within the
same room or office suite as the medical assistant in order to be available for
consultation regarding those tasks the medical assistant performs pursuant to
section 32-1456.
9. "Dispense" means the delivery by a
doctor of medicine of a prescription drug or device to a patient, except for
samples packaged for individual use by licensed manufacturers or repackagers of
drugs, and includes the prescribing, administering, packaging, labeling and
security necessary to prepare and safeguard the drug or device for delivery.
10. "Doctor of medicine" means a natural
person holding a license, registration or permit to practice medicine pursuant
to this chapter.
11. "Full-time faculty member" means
a physician who is employed full time as a faculty member while holding the
academic position of assistant professor or a higher position at an approved
school of medicine.
12. "Health care institution" means any
facility as defined in section 36-401, any person authorized to transact
disability insurance, as defined in title 20, chapter 6, article 4 or 5, any
person who is issued a certificate of authority pursuant to title 20, chapter
4, article 9 or any other partnership, association or corporation that provides
health care to consumers.
13. "Immediate family" means the spouse,
natural or adopted children, father, mother, brothers and sisters of the doctor
of medicine and the natural or adopted children, father, mother, brothers and
sisters of the doctor of medicine's spouse.
14. "Letter of reprimand" means a
disciplinary letter that is issued by the board and that informs the physician
that the physician's conduct violates state or federal law and may require the
board to monitor the physician.
15. "Limit" means taking a nondisciplinary
action that alters the physician's practice or professional activities if the
board determines that there is evidence that the physician is or may be
mentally or physically unable to safely engage in the practice of medicine.
16. "Medical assistant" means an
unlicensed person who meets the requirements of section 32-1456, has
completed an education program approved by the board, assists in a medical
practice under the supervision of a doctor of medicine, physician assistant or
nurse practitioner and performs delegated procedures commensurate with the
medical assistant's education and training but does not diagnose, interpret,
design or modify established treatment programs or perform any functions that
would violate any statute applicable to the practice of medicine.
17. "Medically incompetent" means a person
who the board determines is incompetent based on a variety of factors,
including:
(a) A lack of sufficient medical knowledge or
skills, or both, to a degree likely to endanger the health of patients.
(b) When considered with other indications of
medical incompetence, failing to obtain a scaled score of at least seventy-five
percent on the written special purpose licensing examination.
18. "Medical peer review" means:
(a) The participation by a doctor of medicine in the
review and evaluation of the medical management of a patient and the use of
resources for patient care.
(b) Activities relating to a health care
institution's decision to grant or continue privileges to practice at that
institution.
19. "Medicine" means allopathic medicine
as practiced by the recipient of a degree of doctor of medicine.
20. "Office-based surgery" means a
medical procedure conducted in a physician's office or other outpatient setting
that is not part of a licensed hospital or licensed ambulatory surgical center.
21. "Physician" means a doctor of medicine
who is licensed pursuant to this chapter.
22. "Practice of medicine":
(a) Means the diagnosis, the treatment or the
correction of or the attempt or the claim to be able to diagnose, treat or
correct any and all human diseases, injuries, ailments, infirmities or
deformities, physical or mental, real or imaginary, by any means, methods,
devices or instrumentalities, except as the same may be among the acts or
persons not affected by this chapter.
(b) Includes the practice of medicine alone or the
practice of surgery alone, or both.
23. "Restrict" means taking a disciplinary
action that alters the physician's practice or professional activities if the
board determines that there is evidence that the physician is or may be
medically incompetent or guilty of unprofessional conduct.
24. "Special purpose licensing
examination" means an examination that is developed by the national board
of medical examiners on behalf of the federation of state medical boards for
use by state licensing boards to test the basic medical competence of
physicians who are applying for licensure and who have been in practice for a
considerable period of time in another jurisdiction and to determine the
competence of a physician who is under investigation by a state licensing
board.
25. "Teaching hospital's accredited graduate
medical education program" means that the hospital is incorporated and has
an internship, fellowship or residency training program that is accredited by
the accreditation council for graduate medical education, the American medical
association, the association of American medical colleges, the royal college of
physicians and surgeons of Canada or a similar body in the United States or
Canada that is approved by the board and whose function is that of approving hospitals
for internship, fellowship or residency training.
26. "Teaching license" means a valid
license to practice medicine as a full-time faculty member of an approved
school of medicine or a teaching hospital's accredited graduate medical
education program.
27. "Unprofessional conduct" includes the
following, whether occurring in this state or elsewhere:
(a) Violating any federal or state laws, rules or
regulations applicable to the practice of medicine.
(b) Intentionally disclosing a professional secret
or intentionally disclosing a privileged communication except as either act may
otherwise be required by law.
(c) Committing false, fraudulent, deceptive or
misleading advertising by a doctor of medicine or the doctor of medicine's
staff, employer or representative.
(d) Committing a felony, whether or not involving
moral turpitude, or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. In
either case, conviction by any court of competent jurisdiction or a plea of no
contest is conclusive evidence of the commission.
(e) Failing or refusing to maintain adequate records
on a patient.
(f) Exhibiting a pattern of using or being under the
influence of alcohol or drugs or a similar substance while practicing medicine
or to the extent that judgment may be impaired and the practice of medicine
detrimentally affected.
(g) Using controlled substances except if prescribed
by another physician for use during a prescribed course of treatment.
(h) Prescribing or dispensing controlled substances
to members of the physician's immediate family.
(i) Prescribing, dispensing or administering
schedule II controlled substances as prescribed by section 36-2513 or the
rules adopted pursuant to section 36-2513, including amphetamines and
similar schedule II sympathomimetic drugs in the treatment of exogenous obesity
for a period in excess of thirty days in any one year, or the nontherapeutic
use of injectable amphetamines.
(j) Prescribing, dispensing or administering any
controlled substance or prescription-only drug for other than accepted
therapeutic purposes.
(k) Dispensing a schedule II controlled substance
that is an opioid, except as provided in sections 32-1491 and 32-3248.03.
(l) Signing a blank, undated or predated
prescription form.
(m) Committing conduct that the board determines is
gross malpractice, repeated malpractice or any malpractice resulting in the
death of a patient.
(n) Representing that a manifestly incurable disease
or infirmity can be permanently cured, or that any disease, ailment or
infirmity can be cured by a secret method, procedure, treatment, medicine or
device, if this is not true.
(o) Refusing to divulge to the board on demand the
means, method, procedure, modality of treatment or medicine used in the
treatment of a disease, injury, ailment or infirmity.
(p) Having action taken against a doctor of medicine
by another licensing or regulatory jurisdiction due to that doctor of
medicine's mental or physical inability to engage safely in the practice of
medicine or the doctor of medicine's medical incompetence or for unprofessional
conduct as defined by that jurisdiction and that corresponds directly or
indirectly to an act of unprofessional conduct prescribed by this paragraph.
The action taken may include refusing, denying, revoking or suspending a
license by that jurisdiction or a surrendering of a license to that
jurisdiction, otherwise limiting, restricting or monitoring a licensee by that
jurisdiction or placing a licensee on probation by that jurisdiction.
(q) Having sanctions imposed by an agency of the
federal government, including restricting, suspending, limiting or removing a
person from the practice of medicine or restricting that person's ability to
obtain financial remuneration.
(r) Committing any conduct or practice that is or
might be harmful or dangerous to the health of the patient or the public.
(s) Violating a formal order, probation, consent
agreement or stipulation issued or entered into by the board or its executive
director under this chapter.
(t) Violating or attempting to violate, directly or
indirectly, or assisting in or abetting the violation of or conspiring to
violate any provision of this chapter.
(u) Knowingly making any false or fraudulent
statement, written or oral, in connection with the practice of medicine or if
applying for privileges or renewing an application for privileges at a health
care institution.
(v) Charging a fee for services not rendered or
dividing a professional fee for patient referrals among health care providers
or health care institutions or between these providers and institutions or a
contractual arrangement that has the same effect. This subdivision does not
apply to payments from a medical researcher to a physician in connection with
identifying and monitoring patients for a clinical trial regulated by the
United States food and drug administration.
(w) Obtaining a fee by fraud, deceit or
misrepresentation.
(x) Charging or collecting a clearly excessive
fee. In determining whether a fee is clearly excessive, the board
shall consider the fee or range of fees customarily charged in this state for
similar services in light of modifying factors such as the time required, the
complexity of the service and the skill requisite to perform the service
properly. This subdivision does not apply if there is a clear
written contract for a fixed fee between the physician and the patient that has
been entered into before the provision of the service.
(y) Committing conduct that is in violation of
section 36-2302.
(z) Using experimental forms of diagnosis and
treatment without adequate informed patient consent, and without conforming to
generally accepted experimental criteria, including protocols, detailed
records, periodic analysis of results and periodic review by a medical peer
review committee as approved by the United States food and drug administration
or its successor agency.
(aa) Engaging in sexual conduct with a current
patient or with a former patient within six months after the last medical
consultation unless the patient was the licensee's spouse at the time of the
contact or, immediately preceding the physician-patient relationship, was
in a dating or engagement relationship with the licensee. For the
purposes of this subdivision, "sexual conduct" includes:
(i) Engaging in or soliciting sexual relationships,
whether consensual or nonconsensual.
(ii) Making sexual advances, requesting sexual
favors or engaging in any other verbal conduct or physical contact of a sexual
nature.
(iii) Intentionally viewing a completely or
partially disrobed patient in the course of treatment if the viewing is not
related to patient diagnosis or treatment under current practice standards.
(bb) Procuring or attempting to procure a license to
practice medicine or a license renewal by fraud, by misrepresentation or by
knowingly taking advantage of the mistake of another person or an agency.
(cc) Representing or claiming to be a medical
specialist if this is not true.
(dd) Maintaining a professional connection with or
lending one's name to enhance or continue the activities of an illegal
practitioner of medicine.
(ee) Failing to furnish information in a timely
manner to the board or the board's investigators or representatives if legally
requested by the board.
(ff) Failing to allow properly authorized board
personnel on demand to examine and have access to documents, reports and
records maintained by the physician that relate to the physician's medical
practice or medically related activities.
(gg) Knowingly
failing to disclose to a patient on a form that is prescribed by the board and
that is dated and signed by the patient or guardian acknowledging that the
patient or guardian has read and understands that the doctor has a direct financial
interest in a separate diagnostic or treatment agency or in nonroutine goods or
services that the patient is being prescribed if the prescribed treatment,
goods or services are available on a competitive basis. This subdivision does
not apply to a referral by one doctor of medicine to another doctor of medicine
within a group of doctors of medicine practicing together.
(hh) Using chelation therapy in the treatment of
arteriosclerosis or as any other form of therapy, with the exception of
treatment of heavy metal poisoning, without:
(i) Adequate informed patient consent.
(ii) Conforming to generally accepted experimental
criteria, including protocols, detailed records, periodic analysis of results
and periodic review by a medical peer review committee.
(iii) Approval by the United States food and drug
administration or its successor agency.
(ii) Prescribing, dispensing or administering
anabolic-androgenic steroids to a person for other than therapeutic
purposes.
(jj) Exhibiting a lack of or inappropriate
direction, collaboration or direct supervision of a medical assistant or a
licensed, certified or registered health care provider employed by, supervised
by or assigned to the physician.
(kk) Knowingly making a false or misleading
statement to the board or on a form required by the board or in a written
correspondence, including attachments, with the board.
(ll) Failing to dispense drugs and devices in
compliance with article 6 of this chapter.
(mm) Committing conduct that the board determines is
gross negligence, repeated negligence or negligence resulting in harm to or the
death of a patient.
(nn) Making a representation by a doctor of medicine
or the doctor of medicine's staff, employer or representative that the doctor
of medicine is boarded or board certified if this is not true or the standing
is not current or without supplying the full name of the specific agency,
organization or entity granting this standing.
(oo) Refusing to submit to a body fluid examination
or any other examination known to detect the presence of alcohol or other drugs
as required by the board pursuant to section 32-1452 or pursuant to a
board investigation into a doctor of medicine's alleged substance abuse.
(pp) Failing to report in writing to the Arizona
medical board or the Arizona regulatory board of physician assistants any
evidence that a doctor of medicine or a physician assistant is or may be
medically incompetent, guilty of unprofessional conduct or mentally or
physically unable to safely practice medicine or to perform as a physician
assistant.
(qq) As a physician who is the chief executive
officer, the medical director or the medical chief of staff of a health care
institution, failing to report in writing to the board that the hospital
privileges of a doctor of medicine have been denied, revoked, suspended,
supervised or limited because of actions by the doctor of medicine that appear
to show that the doctor of medicine is or may be medically incompetent, is or
may be guilty of unprofessional conduct or is or may be unable to engage safely
in the practice of medicine.
(rr) Claiming to be a current member of the board or
its staff or a board medical consultant if this is not true.
(ss) Failing to make patient medical records in the
physician's possession promptly available to a physician assistant, a nurse
practitioner, a person licensed pursuant to this chapter or a podiatrist,
chiropractor, naturopathic physician, osteopathic physician or homeopathic
physician licensed under chapter 7, 8, 14, 17 or 29 of this title on receipt of
proper authorization to do so from the patient, a minor patient's parent, the
patient's legal guardian or the patient's authorized representative or failing
to comply with title 12, chapter 13, article 7.1.
(tt) Prescribing, dispensing or furnishing a
prescription medication or a prescription-only device as defined in
section 32-1901 to a person unless the licensee first conducts a physical
or mental health status examination of that person or has previously
established a doctor-patient relationship. The physical or
mental health status examination may be conducted through telehealth as defined
in section 36-3601 with a clinical evaluation that is appropriate for the
patient and the condition with which the patient presents, unless the
examination is for the purpose of obtaining a written certification from the
physician for the purposes of title 36, chapter 28.1. This subdivision
does not apply to:
(i) A physician who provides temporary patient
supervision on behalf of the patient's regular treating licensed health care
professional or provides a consultation requested by the patient's regular
treating licensed health care professional.
(ii) Emergency medical situations as defined in
section 41-1831.
(iii) Prescriptions written to prepare a patient for
a medical examination.
(iv) Prescriptions written or prescription
medications issued for use by a county or tribal public health department for
immunization programs or emergency treatment or in response to an infectious
disease investigation, public health emergency, infectious disease outbreak or
act of bioterrorism. For the purposes of this item,
"bioterrorism" has the same meaning prescribed in section 36-781.
(v) Prescriptions written or antimicrobials
dispensed to a contact as defined in section 36-661 who is believed to
have had significant exposure risk as defined in section 36-661 with
another person who has been diagnosed with a communicable disease as defined in
section 36-661 by the prescribing or dispensing physician.
(vi) Prescriptions written or prescription
medications issued for administration of immunizations or vaccines listed in
the United States centers for disease control and prevention's recommended
immunization schedule to a household member of a patient.
(vii) Prescriptions for epinephrine delivery systems
that are written or dispensed for a school district or charter school to be
stocked for emergency use pursuant to section 15-157 or for an authorized
entity to be stocked pursuant to section 36-2226.01.
(viii) Prescriptions for glucagon written or
dispensed for a school district or charter school to be stocked for emergency
use pursuant to section 15-344.01.
(ix) Prescriptions written by a licensee through a
telehealth program that is covered by the policies and procedures adopted by
the administrator of a hospital or outpatient treatment center.
(x) Prescriptions for naloxone hydrochloride or any
other opioid antagonist approved by the United States food and drug
administration that are written or dispensed for use pursuant to section 36-2228
or 36-2266.
(uu) Performing office-based surgery using
sedation in violation of board rules.
(vv) Practicing medicine under a false or assumed
name in this state.
(
ww
) if a
physician performs surgeries at an outpatient surgical center, failing to
annually provide the outpatient surgical center with the physician's call-coverage
plan, including hospital call coverage
if applicable. The
physician shall provide the outpatient surgical center with an updated call-coverage
plan, including hospital call coverage
if applicable, as
changes are made.
END_STATUTE
Sec.
2.
2. Section
32-1854, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
32-1854.
Definition of unprofessional conduct
For the purposes of this chapter, "unprofessional
conduct" includes the following acts, whether occurring in this state or
elsewhere:
1. Knowingly betraying a professional secret or
wilfully violating a privileged communication except as either of these may
otherwise be required by law. This paragraph does not prevent
members of the board from exchanging information with the licensing and
disciplinary boards of other states, territories or districts of the United
States or with foreign countries or with osteopathic medical organizations
located in this state or in any state, district or territory of this country or
in any foreign country.
2. Committing a felony or a misdemeanor involving
moral turpitude. In either case conviction by any court of competent
jurisdiction is conclusive evidence of the commission of the offense.
3. Practicing medicine while under the influence of
alcohol, a dangerous drug as defined in section 13-3401, narcotic or
hypnotic drugs or any substance that impairs or may impair the licensee's
ability to safely and skillfully practice medicine.
4. Being diagnosed by a physician licensed under
this chapter or chapter 13 of this title or a psychologist licensed under
chapter 19.1 of this title as excessively or illegally using alcohol or a
controlled substance.
5. Prescribing, dispensing or administering
controlled substances or prescription-only drugs for other than accepted
therapeutic purposes.
6. Engaging in the practice of medicine in a manner
that harms or may harm a patient or that the board determines falls below the
community standard.
7. Impersonating another physician.
8. Acting or assuming to act as a member of the
board if this is not true.
9. Procuring, renewing or attempting to procure or
renew a license to practice osteopathic medicine by fraud or misrepresentation.
10. Having professional connection with or lending
one's name to an illegal practitioner of osteopathic medicine or any of the
other healing arts.
11. Representing that a manifestly incurable
disease, injury, ailment or infirmity can be permanently cured or that a
curable disease, injury, ailment or infirmity can be cured within a stated time
if this is not true.
12. Failing to reasonably disclose and inform the
patient or the patient's representative of the method, device or instrumentality
the licensee uses to treat the patient's disease, injury, ailment or infirmity.
13. Refusing to divulge to the board on demand the
means, method, device or instrumentality used to treat a disease, injury,
ailment or infirmity.
14. Charging a fee for services not rendered or
dividing a professional fee for patient referrals. This paragraph does not
apply to payments from a medical researcher to a physician in connection with
identifying and monitoring patients for clinical trial regulated by the United
States food and drug administration.
15. Knowingly making any false or fraudulent
statement, written or oral, in connection with the practice of medicine or when
applying for or renewing privileges at a health care institution or a health
care program.
16. Advertising in a false, deceptive or misleading
manner.
17. Representing or claiming to be an osteopathic
medical specialist if the physician has not satisfied the applicable
requirements of this chapter or board rules.
18. Having a license denied or disciplinary action
taken against a license by any other state, territory, district or country,
unless it can be shown that this occurred for reasons that did not relate to
the person's ability to safely and skillfully practice osteopathic medicine or
to any act of unprofessional conduct as provided in this section.
19. Committing any conduct or practice contrary to
recognized standards of ethics of the osteopathic medical profession.
20. Violating or attempting to violate, directly or
indirectly, or assisting in or abetting the violation of or conspiring to
violate any of the provisions of this chapter.
21. Failing or refusing to establish and maintain
adequate records on a patient as follows:
(a) If the patient is an adult, for at least six
years after the last date the licensee provided the patient with medical or
health care services.
(b) If the patient is a child, either for at least
three years after the child's eighteenth birthday or for at least six years
after the last date the licensee provided that patient with medical or health
care services, whichever date occurs later.
22. Using controlled substances or prescription-only
drugs unless they are provided by a medical practitioner, as defined in section
32-1901, as part of a lawful course of treatment.
23. Prescribing controlled substances to members of
one's immediate family unless there is no other physician available within
fifty miles to treat a member of the family and an emergency exists.
24. Committing nontherapeutic use of injectable
amphetamines.
25. Violating a formal order, probation or a
stipulation issued by the board under this chapter.
26. Charging or collecting an inappropriate
fee. This paragraph does not apply to a fee that is fixed in a
written contract between the physician and the patient and entered into before
treatment begins.
27. Using experimental forms of therapy without
adequate informed patient consent or without conforming to generally accepted
criteria and complying with federal and state statutes and regulations
governing experimental therapies.
28. Failing to make patient medical records in the
physician's possession promptly available to a physician assistant, a nurse
practitioner, a person licensed pursuant to this chapter or a podiatrist,
chiropractor, naturopathic physician, physician or homeopathic physician
licensed under chapter 7, 8, 13, 14 or 29 of this title on receipt of proper
authorization to do so from the patient, a minor patient's parent, the
patient's legal guardian or the patient's authorized representative or failing
to comply with title 12, chapter 13, article 7.1.
29. Failing to allow properly authorized board
personnel to have, on presentation of a subpoena, access to any documents,
reports or records that are maintained by the physician and that relate to the
physician's medical practice or medically related activities pursuant to
section 32-1855.01.
30. Signing a blank, undated or predated
prescription form.
31. Obtaining a fee by fraud, deceit or
misrepresentation.
32. Failing to report to the board an osteopathic
physician and surgeon who is or may be guilty of unprofessional conduct or is
or may be mentally or physically unable safely to engage in the practice of
medicine.
33. Referring a patient to a diagnostic or treatment
facility or prescribing goods and services without disclosing that the
physician has a direct pecuniary interest in the facility, goods or services to
which the patient has been referred or prescribed. This paragraph does not
apply to a referral by one physician to another physician within a group of
physicians practicing together.
34. Exhibiting a lack of or inappropriate direction,
collaboration or supervision of a licensed, certified or registered health care
provider or office personnel employed by or assigned to the physician in the
medical care of patients.
35. Violating a federal law, a state law or a rule
applicable to the practice of medicine.
36. Prescribing or dispensing controlled substances
or prescription-only medications without establishing and maintaining
adequate patient records.
37. Dispensing a schedule II controlled substance
that is an opioid, except as provided in sections 32-1871 and 32-3248.03.
38. Failing to dispense drugs and devices in
compliance with article 4 of this chapter.
39. Committing any conduct or practice that
endangers a patient's or the public's health or may reasonably be expected to
do so.
40. Committing any conduct or practice that impairs
the licensee's ability to safely and skillfully practice medicine or that may
reasonably be expected to do so.
41. With the exception of heavy metal poisoning,
using chelation therapy in the treatment of arteriosclerosis or as any other
form of therapy without adequate informed patient consent and without
conforming to generally accepted experimental criteria, including protocols,
detailed records, periodic analysis of results and periodic review by a medical
peer review committee.
42. Prescribing, dispensing or administering
anabolic-androgenic steroids to a person for other than therapeutic
purposes.
43. Engaging in sexual conduct with a current
patient or with a former patient within six months after the last medical
consultation unless the patient was the licensee's spouse at the time of the
contact or, immediately preceding the physician-patient relationship, was
in a dating or engagement relationship with the licensee. For the purposes of
this paragraph, "sexual conduct" includes:
(a) Engaging in or soliciting sexual relationships,
whether consensual or nonconsensual.
(b) Making sexual advances, requesting sexual favors
or engaging in any other verbal conduct or physical conduct of a sexual nature.
44. Committing conduct that is in violation of
section 36-2302.
45. Committing conduct that the board determines
constitutes gross negligence, repeated negligence or negligence that results in
harm or death of a patient.
46. Committing conduct in the practice of medicine
that evidences unfitness to practice medicine.
47. Engaging in disruptive or abusive behavior in a
professional setting.
48. Failing to disclose to a patient that the
licensee has a direct financial interest in a prescribed treatment, good or
service if the treatment, good or service is available on a competitive
basis. This paragraph does not apply to a referral by one licensee
to another licensee within a group of licensees who practice together. A
licensee meets the disclosure requirements of this paragraph if both of the
following are true:
(a) The licensee makes the disclosure on a form
prescribed by the board.
(b) The patient or the patient's guardian or parent
acknowledges by signing the form that the licensee has disclosed the licensee's
direct financial interest.
49. Prescribing, dispensing or furnishing a
prescription medication or a prescription-only device to a person if the
licensee has not conducted a physical or mental health status examination of
that person or has not previously established a physician-patient
relationship. The physical or mental health status examination may
be conducted through telehealth as defined in section 36-3601 with a
clinical evaluation that is appropriate for the patient and the condition with
which the patient presents, unless the examination is for the purpose of
obtaining a written certification from the physician for the purposes of title
36, chapter 28.1. This paragraph does not apply to:
(a) Emergencies.
(b) A licensee who provides patient care on behalf
of the patient's regular treating licensed health care professional or provides
a consultation requested by the patient's regular treating licensed health care
professional.
(c) Prescriptions written or antimicrobials
dispensed to a contact as defined in section 36-661 who is believed to
have had significant exposure risk as defined in section 36-661 with
another person who has been diagnosed with a communicable disease as defined in
section 36-661 by the prescribing or dispensing physician.
(d) Prescriptions for epinephrine delivery systems
that are written or dispensed for a school district or charter school to be
stocked for emergency use pursuant to section 15-157 or for an authorized
entity to be stocked pursuant to section 36-2226.01.
(e) Prescriptions for glucagon written or dispensed
for a school district or charter school to be stocked for emergency use
pursuant to section 15-344.01.
(f) Prescriptions written by a licensee through a
telehealth program that is covered by the policies and procedures adopted by
the administrator of a hospital or outpatient treatment center.
(g) Prescriptions for naloxone hydrochloride or any
other opioid antagonist approved by the United States food and drug
administration that are written or dispensed for use pursuant to section 36-2228
or 36-2266.
50. If a licensee provides medical care by computer,
failing to disclose the licensee's license number and the board's address and
telephone number.
51. If a physician performs surgeries
at an outpatient surgical center, failing to annually provide the outpatient
surgical center with the physician's call-coverage plan, including
hospital call coverage
if applicable. The
physician shall provide the outpatient surgical center with an updated call-coverage
plan, including hospital call coverage
if applicable, as
changes are made.
END_STATUTE
Sec.
3.
3.
Effective
date
This act is effective from and after
December 31, 2026.