BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 333 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 28, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS Susan Bonilla, Chair AB 333 (Melendez) - As Amended March 26, 2015 SUBJECT: Healing arts: continuing education. SUMMARY: Authorizes healing arts licensees to earn one unit of continuing education (CE) credit by attending a course that results in the licensee becoming a certified instructor of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or the proper use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) and up to two units of CE credit for conducting CPR or AED training sessions for employees of school districts and community college districts in the state. EXISTING LAW: 1)Provides for the licensure and regulation of various healing arts licensees by various boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and imposes various continuing education (CE) requirements for license renewal. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 500-4999.129) 2)Requires the Director of the DCA to establish guidelines for mandatory CE administered by the boards under the DCA, including, among other things, the CE's relevancy to the AB 333 Page 2 occupation. (BPC § 166) THIS BILL: 3)Authorizes healing arts licensees, who are required to complete CE units as a condition of renewing their license, to earn one unit of CE credit by attending a course that results in the licensee becoming a certified instructor of CPR or the proper use of an AED. 4)Authorizes healing arts licensees, who are required to complete CE units as a condition of renewing their license, to apply up to two units of CE credit towards the requirement for conducting CPR or AED training sessions for employees of school districts and community college districts in the state. 5)Defines "unit" as a measurement for continuing education, such as hours or course credits. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS: 6)Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the author. According to the author, "As cardiac emergencies become more common on school campuses, it is not only imperative that our schools have lifesaving resources available to faculty and administration, but the ability to provide the faculty and administration with hands-on training with those resources. By incentivizing licensed medical professionals to provide this training in turn for continual education credit, we are providing a no-cost solution that will allow school officials to become familiar with the technology. This will ultimately AB 333 Page 3 lead to less hesitation in emergency environments and increases in the success rate of cardiac emergency care." 7)Background. All 20 healing arts boards under the DCA develop their own CE curriculum for licensees and approve the providers that offer the CE courses. However, they are limited to CE that is relevant to the profession. Current law specifies that the purpose of CE is "?to create a more competent licensing population, thereby enhancing public protection" (BPC § 166). Further, the boards often have limiting language within their practice acts. For instance, the Dental Board is permitted to establish its own CE curriculum within the general areas of patient care, health and safety, and law and ethics (BPC § 1645). The Medical Board's standards are aimed at maintaining, developing, or increasing the knowledge, skills, and professional performance that licensees use to provide care (BPC § 2190.1). Using the criteria set out in statute, the boards then determine relevant CE courses and approve the providers that teach the courses. This bill would permit the licensees of healing arts boards to use CPR and AED instructor certification courses and teaching sessions to earn credit towards the CE requirements established by the boards, regardless of the approved CE courses. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The American Red Cross writes in support, "The American Red Cross is pleased to support your AB 333, which would incentivize the training of K-12 school faculty and administrators in the use of [AEDs], by allowing individuals the ability to earn continuing education units. AB 333 Page 4 AEDs are used to treat the effects of sudden cardiac arrest, which is triggered by an electrical malfunction in the heart-with the heart unable to pump blood to the brain, lungs, and other vital organs, death can happen in minutes. Each year nearly 424,000 people experience sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital. Only 10% of these individuals survive. Encouraging school employees to be prepared in time of emergency, including the use of an AED, can save lives." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: None on file. IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES: This bill may conflict with the California Emergency Medical Services Authority's (EMSA) regulations regarding "lay rescuers" and AED training (California Code of Regulations Title 22, § 100031-100043). The author may wish to work with EMSA to ensure that the requirements for lay rescuers, as spelled out in the EMSA regulations, is consistent with the requirements for healing arts licensees that would be impacted by this bill. POLICY ISSUES: Some boards, such as the Board for Behavioral Sciences (BBS), may wish to opt out of this bill. For instance, at the April 23, 2015 BBS Policy and Advocacy Committee meeting, a board analysis noted that this bill may conflict with the board's continuing education statutory and regulatory requirements. The analysis stated that: AB 333 Page 5 "Current law specifies that continuing education must incorporate either aspects of the discipline for which licensed that are fundamental to the practice of the profession, aspects of the discipline where significant recent developments have occurred, or aspects of other disciplines that enhance the understanding or practice of the profession. While CPR/AED training is important, it may be difficult to argue that it is fundamental to, or enhances the understanding of, the practice of psychotherapy." Therefore, the author should make the following amendments to provide boards the authority to opt out and to exclude boards with conflicting statutes. AMENDMENTS: 8)Ensure that licensees only apply the credits once per renewal cycle: On page 2, line 5, strike:mayand after "license" insert: may, once per renewal cycle, On page 2, line 12, strike:mayand after "license" insert: may, once per renewal cycle, 9)Specify which certification courses apply: AB 333 Page 6 On page 2, line 9, after "state" insert: The licensee may attend the following courses: (1) An instructional program developed by the American Heart Association. (2) An instructional program developed by the American Red Cross. (3) An instructional program that is nationally recognized and based on the most current national evidence-based emergency cardiovascular care guidelines for the performance of CPR and the use of an AED. 10)Ensure the training sessions are approved by the appropriate board: On page 2, line 15, after "state" insert: The training session must be approved by the applicable licensing entity. 11)and exclude boards that do not wish to participate or have conflicting statutory or regulatory requirements: On page 2, after line 17, insert: (e) This section does not apply to a person licensed under AB 333 Page 7 this division if the applicable board's laws establishing continuing education exclude the courses or activities described in subdivisions (a) and (b). REGISTERED SUPPORT: The American Red Cross REGISTERED OPPOSITION: None on file. Analysis Prepared by:Vincent Chee / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301