CS for CS for SB 876 Summary

• Restructures impaired practitioner programs by changing the Department of Health from requiring to retaining consultants through contracts, with specific minimum contract provisions requiring consultants to accept referrals, arrange evaluations and treatment, monitor recovery, and prohibiting direct patient care by consultants.

• Expands the definition of "impairment" to include mental or physical conditions affecting practice ability, and creates new definitions for key terms including "consultant," "evaluator," "participant," "material noncompliance," and "inability to progress."

• Allows practitioners to be reported to consultants rather than the department for impairment-related issues, and permits consultants to withhold information about self-referring participants from the department if no pending investigation exists and the participant is compliant and making progress.

• Provides liability protections for consultants and their agents against civil actions, and allows consultants to disclose all information to the department only when a participant is terminated for material noncompliance or when impairment poses immediate danger to public health and safety.

• Creates a new reporting requirement for midwives and health care providers to report adverse incidents from out-of-hospital births to the department within 15 days, including maternal deaths, intensive care transfers, and severe injuries.