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S.F. No. 887 - Department of Health Omnibus Policy Bill (The Fourth Engrossment)
 
Author: Senator John Marty
 
Prepared By:
 
Date: April 8, 2013



 

S.F. No. 887 is the Department of Health’s (MDH) omnibus policy bill.  It requires radon disclosure for residential real property, makes changes in tuberculosis standards, changes adverse reporting requirements, modifies a poison control provision, makes changes to the volunteer medical personnel and requires criminal background studies, defines occupational therapy practitioners, and amends the prescribing authority for legend drugs.

Section 1 (13.381, subdivision 14a) classifies the criminal history record data on Minnesota Responds Medical Corps volunteers in chapter 13.

Section 2 (144.1501, subdivision 4) makes a technical change.

Section 3 (144.496) establishes the Minnesota Radon Awareness Act.

Subdivision 1 permits this section to be cited as the Minnesota Radon Awareness Act.

Subdivision 2 defines the following terms:  agent; buyer; department; mitigation; radon test; residential real property; seller; and elevated radon concentration.

Subdivision 3, paragraph (a), requires a seller to provide the buyer of any interest in residential real property the publication entitled  “Radon Testing Guidelines for Real Estate Transactions” and the “Minnesota Disclosure of Information on Radon," stating that the property may present the potential for exposure to radon. 

Paragraph (b) describes the disclosure information that must be provided to a buyer of residential property.

Paragraph (c) states that if the disclosures that are required under this section occur after the buyer has made an offer to purchase the residential real property, the seller must provide the required disclosures before accepting the buyer’s offer and must allow the buyer an opportunity to review the information and possible amend the offer without penalty to the buyer.

Subdivision 4 describes the exclusions to the disclosure requirement.

Subdivision 5 authorizes a buyer who is injured by a violation of this section to bring a civil action, if the action is commenced within two years after the date the buyer closed on the purchase of the real property.

Subdivision 6 states that this section is effective January 1, 2014, and applies to an agreement to sell or transfer real property executed on or after that date.

Section 4 (144.50, subdivision 8) creates a new subdivision requiring supervised living facilities to establish and maintain a tuberculosis prevention and control program according the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most current guidelines.

Section 5 (144.55, subdivision 3) requires outpatient surgical centers to establish and maintain a tuberculosis prevention and control program according the CDC’s most current guidelines.

Section 6 (144.56, subdivision 2c) requires boarding care homes to establish and maintain a tuberculosis prevention and control program according the CDC’s most current guidelines.

Sections 7 through 13 make changes related to the various adverse health care events reported to MDH.

Section 7 (144.7065, subdivision 2) includes “other invasive procedures” to the list of surgical events.

Section 8 (144.7065, subdivision 3) replaces “serious disability” with “serious injury” to the list of product or device events.

Section 9 (144.7065, subdivision 4) makes changes to the list of patient protection events, including replacing “infant” with a patient of any age without decision making capacity, and replacing “serious disability” with “serious injury, or "self-harm resulting in serious injury or death” among others.

Section 10 (144.7065, subdivision 5) modifies several case management events, including:  death or serious injury of a newborn during labor or delivery during a low-risk pregnancy; death or serious injury due to a fall while being cared for in a facility; death or serious injury due to a failure to follow-up with lab results; the unsafe administration of blood; loss of an irreplaceable biological specimen, among others.

Section 11 (144.7065, subdivision 6) replaces “serious disability” with “serious injury,” and removes death or serious disability resulting from falls, to the list of environmental events. (Falls are added to the case management events list in Section 8.)

Section 12 (144.7065, subdivision 7) changes the subdivision headnote from “criminal events” to “potential criminal events” and replaces “serious disability” with “serious injury.”

Section 13 (144.7065, subdivision 7a) adds a new subdivision creating a new adverse health care event reported to MDH, “radiological event,” defined as death or serious injury resulting from a metal object in an MRI area.

Section 14 (144A.04, subdivision 3b) creates a new subdivision requiring nursing homes to establish and maintain a tuberculosis prevention and control program according the CDC’s most current guidelines.

Section 15 (144A.45, subdivision 6) creates a new subdivision requiring home care providers to establish and maintain a tuberculosis prevention and control program according the CDC’s most current guidelines.

Section 16 (144A.752, subdivision 5) creates a new subdivision requiring hospice providers to establish and maintain a tuberculosis prevention and control program according the CDC’s most current guidelines.

Section 17 (144D.08) excludes housing with services establishments serving the homeless from providing a required guide outlining services, costs, legal rights, and other information.

Section 18 (145.93, subdivision 3) changes the time period in which the commissioner must solicit applications for the poison information centers from every odd-numbered year to every five years.

Section 19 (145A.04, subdivision 6d) states that a Minnesota Responds Medical Reserve Corps volunteer who responds to the call from a board of health shall be deemed an employee of that jurisdiction for purposes of workers’ compensation, tort claim defense, and indemnification.

Section 20 (145A.06, subdivision 7) states that a Minnesota Responds Medical Reserve Corps volunteer who responds to a request for training from the commissioner shall be deemed a state employee for purposes of workers’ compensation, tort claim defense, and indemnification.

Section 21 (145A.061, subdivision 1) requires the commissioner to develop agreements to conduct criminal background studies for each individual who registers as a volunteer in the Minnesota Responds Medical Reserve Corps and applies for membership in the Minnesota Behavioral Health or mobile medical teams.  Each applicant is required to provide written consent authorizing the commissioner to obtain the applicant’s criminal background information.

Subdivision 2 requires the commissioner to provide the applicant with an opportunity to complete or challenge the accuracy of the criminal justice information reported to the commissioner before the commissioner can deny the application to serve as a health volunteer due to information obtained from a background study.

Subdivision 3 states that the commissioner may deny an application from any applicant if the applicant has been convicted of any of the crimes listed.

Subdivision 4 states that an applicant is considered to have been convicted of a crime if the applicant was convicted, adjudicated delinquent, or otherwise found guilty or was convicted, but the imposition or execution of a sentence was stayed.

Subdivision 5 classifies the state criminal history record information or data used to match state occupational licensing or national databases obtained by the commissioner from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) as private data on individuals, and restricts its use to the commissioner for the purpose of evaluating an applicant’s eligibility for participation in the behavioral health or mobile field medical team.

Subdivision 6 authorizes the commissioner to deny a volunteer membership on a mobile medical team or behavioral health team for any reason and is only required to communicate the reason when membership is denied as a result of information received from a criminal background study.  The commissioner is exempt from the Criminal Offenders Rehabilitation Act under chapter 364.

Section 22 (146B.02, subdivision 2) clarifies that both fixed site and mobile establishments must obtain an establishment license.

Section 23 (146B.02, subdivision 8) permits the commissioner to accept temporary event applications submitted less than the currently required 14 days before the event, if the department has sufficient time to complete an inspection.

Section 24 (146B.03, subdivision 11) establishes a criminal penalty (misdemeanor) for performing tattooing or body piercing without a license.

Section 25 (146B.07, subdivision 5) requires the written aftercare instructions provided to clients to include the difference between a normal irritation and infection.

Section 26 (148.6402) adds a definition to the occupational therapy licensure statutes of an occupational therapy practitioner.

Section 27 (148.6440) changes terminology to “occupational therapy practitioner."  It also requires an occupational therapy practitioner to apply to and receive written approval from the commissioner before using physical agent modalities.

Section 28 (151.37, subdivision 2) states that nothing in chapter 151 prohibits the Commissioner of Health, if a licensed practitioner, or, if not a licensed practitioner, a person designated by the Commissioner of Health who is a licensed practitioner from prescribing legends drugs for filed delivered therapy in the treatment of a communicable disease according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Partner Services Guidelines.

Section 29 (513.61) requires a seller of residential property to comply with the radon disclosure requirements under section 144.496.

Section 30 repeals:

(a) 144.1487 to 144.1491 (obsolete sections of the health professionals loan forgiveness program).

(b) 146B.03, subdivision 10 (containing obsolete language); 148.7808, subdivision 2; 148,7813; 325F.814 (inconsistent language); and 609.2246 (consistent language).

(c) Minnesota Rules, parts 4655.3000, subparts 2, 3, and 4; 4658.0810, subparts 1 and 2; 4658.0815, subparts 1, 2, 3, and 4; 4664.0290, subparts 1, 2, 3, and 4; and 4668.0065, subparts 1 and 2, related to tuberculosis testing and control procedures and requirements; replaced by CDC guidelines referenced in Sections 2, 3, 4, 12, 13 and 14.

KC/DL:rdr

 

 

 

 

 
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