HB 203

ON MARCH 31, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 332, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, make the following revisions to present law:  Requires the board of nursing ("board""), no later than 90 days after the effective date of th e bill, to develop a survey to collect the following information from nurse practitioners who have been issued a certificate of fitness from the board: (i) the specialty in which the nurse practitioner practices; (ii) the specialty practiced by each of the nurse practitioner's collaborating physicians; (iii) the physical address of the nurse practitioner's primary practice location; (iv) the physical address of the primary practice location of each collaborating physician; and (v) how many days per week each collaborating physician is on-site with the nurse practitioner at the same practice site.  Defines, for purposes of this amendment, ""specialty"" : (i) a s the term relates to a nurse practitioner, an area of the study of nursing completed by a nurse practitioner that leads to a national specialty certification by an organization recognized by the board of nursing; and (ii) a s the term relates to a physician, an area of the study of medicine completed by a physician that leads to board certification by a board approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties.  Requires the board to send the survey annually to each nurse practitioner who has been issued a certificate of fitness by the board who has opted to receive email communications. The board must send reminder communications no less than quarterly to nurse practitioners who have been contacted but have not completed the survey, and to include the survey, a website link to the survey, or information on how to complete the survey in such communications. The board may send the survey by electronic means.  Requires the board, on or before December 31 of each year, to submit a report to the chair s of legislative committees with jurisdiction over health-related matters containing aggregated, de-identified data on the following: (i) s tatistics on the number and percentage of nurse practitioners who responded to the survey; (ii) the percentage of nurse practitioners who reported having a collaborating physician in the same specialty; (iii) the percentage of collaborating physicians who are on-site with nurse practitioners full time, and for those not on-site full time, the average number of days per week the collaborating physician is on-site; and (iv) such other statistics that the board may deem to be useful in informing the general assembly on the collaborating relationship between physicians and nurse practitioners who practice a specialty.  Requires the board to include in the report any data collected on or before December 1 of each year.  Authorizes the board to publish and deliver the report by electronic means."