HB 256 Summary

• Adds Section 34-21-2.1 to Alabama Code authorizing the Board of Nursing to adopt rules that prioritize patient safety and wellness even if those rules are anti-competitive.

• Immunizes the Board of Nursing and its members from liability under state and federal antitrust laws for adoption of anti-competitive rules that prioritize patient safety and wellness.

• Allows rules adopted under Sections 34-21-2, 34-21-85, or 34-21-87 to define and regulate nursing and advanced practice nursing to prioritize patient safety, provided rules do not conflict with existing statutory definitions in Sections 34-21-1 and 34-21-81.

• Establishes legislative findings that patient safety is a primary goal of healthcare and that the Board of Nursing is best positioned to determine practices that prioritize patient safety and wellness.

• Becomes effective immediately upon passage and approval by the Governor, with no expansion or contraction of rights, privileges, or duties beyond those existing prior to the 2015 North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC Supreme Court decision.