MT HB238

Professional licensing boards (alternative health care, behavioral health, veterinary medicine, and medical practitioner boards) may require mental or physical evaluations of licensees or applicants when there is objective and reasonable belief of significant risk of substantial harm to public health and safety

Evaluations must assess how mental/physical impairments, disabilities, or controlled substance use may impact professional performance, considering factors including duration of risk, nature and severity of potential harm, likelihood of harm occurring, and imminence of harm

Boards and the Department of Labor and Industry may summarily suspend licenses or halt application processing for individuals who refuse to submit to required evaluations

Amends existing statutes for physicians (37-3-323), podiatrists (37-6-311), and chiropractors (37-12-322) to remove previous language allowing boards to order examinations at their discretion, replacing it with the new standardized evaluation process

Requires that any examination of a physician must be conducted by a board-approved physician, and boards may access medical records as part of investigations