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For six months, the Florida Division of Business and Professional Regulation and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office worked undercover in a decoy house, calling in people who advertised plumbing, electrical and roofing services. Of the 85 people who responded, 49 were unlicensed. Sixteen of these were arrested this week and citations issued to the others for soliciting work without a license. Read more.
Governor Rounds has signed SB34 allowing certified nurse midwives to attend out-of-hospital births under certain circumstances. The Board of Nursing and the Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners will develop guidelines for home practice. The new law is effective July 1, 2008. Its provisions are approved through June 30, 2013.
The National Practitioner Data Bank's Public Use Data File is now updated to contain information from disclosable reports received from September 1, 1990 through December 31, 2007. The data file does not include information identifying individual practitioners or reporting entities and is designed for statistical analysis. It does includes selected variables from adverse actions against physicians, dentists, and other licensed health care professionals. Those required to report this data include malpractice payers, state licensing agencies, hospitals, other entities (including federal governmental), and professional societies.
After years of preparation, the provincial government has proclaimed the final provisions of The Midwifery Act. Midwifery will become a self-regulated profession under the College of Widwives. As an interim measure to the establishment of the college, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan has passed a bylaw under The Medical Profession Act that enables midwives to provide postpartum care
The Law Society of Upper Canada has made several changes to its rules of professional conduct pertaining to real estate bar practitioners. A major change is a requirement that there be two lawyers for transactions involving a transfer of title. These updates are in response to recent government reforms regarding real estate transactions and will become effective March 31, 2008. Read a backgrounder on these initiatives.
Ruling that a teaching credential is necessary in order to home school children, the 2nd District Court of Appeal says that courts have upheld the position that parents do not have a constitutional right to educate their children. An estimated 166,000 children are currently home schooled in California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger quickly issued a statement saying "This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will." Read more from The Mercury News.
State Boards, Committees, Commissions, and Councils — Opportunities May Exist to Improve the State’s Fiscal Position and Increase Efficiency has been released by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA). This fiscal analysis identifies several areas for potential savings, including "occupational and professional licensing boards that have largely, but not completely, consolidated administration." It also identifies boards that may have overlapping responsibilities, such as those with respective responsibility for guides, whitewater guides and whitewater safety.
Denying pleas for charitable immunity, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that malpractice cases against physicians employed by a health services foundation should proceed. The Virginian Pilot reports an appellate lawyer's suggestion that a different ruling could have ended medical malpractice litigation in Virginia, allowing professionals to escape liability by working for nominal non-profit groups.
The Government Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States has released Grading the States 2008. This annual quality assessment is designed to reflect the performance of each state as a whole. It focuses on four areas the project considers key to a state's performing well - money, people, infrastructure and information. Three states - Utah, Virginia and Washington - each earned an A- while the average grade awarded was a B-. See also "The Mandate to Measure" in Governing magazine.
In recognition of their role as valued commonwealth health professionals, Virginia's Governor Kaine has designated March as Certified Athletic Trainers’ Month. Across the US, National Athletic Trainers Month is celebrated each March by the National Athletic Trainers' Association.
