How are legislators supposed to decide on the relative competencies of health care practitioners?<\/p>\n
In these matters, we are asking lawmakers to make a tough decision on topics outside their expertise. In some cases, it\u2019s not the public that\u2019s asking but the practitioners of health care professions.<\/p>\n
The dental therapist bill came back this year but did not have enough \u2013pardon the pun \u2013 teeth.<\/p>\n
The bill was widely publicized and debated in 2014. It attempted to create a new mid-level category of dental practitioner to provide care in underserved rural communities, based on a model that has been successful in other states. Last year the bill,was stopped in a Senate committee. This year, the House version of the bill (HB 349, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Roch, R. \u2013 Logan), passed the House and went no further. Its companion Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Benny Shendo (D. \u2013 Jemez Pueblo), did not get a single hearing.<\/p>\n
Though the details are technical, the argument is simple. Small rural communities need dental services, which the state\u2019s dentists are not providing \u2013 but dentists are concerned about competency and training. As a dentist told me, you never know when a simple procedure like an extraction is going to be complicated until you do it and see what\u2019s underneath.<\/p>\n
The bill received considerable public support. The web site of Health Action New Mexico has a long list of supporting organizations (healthactionnm.org\/learn\/dental).<\/p>\n
Over the years we have seen many \u201cscope of practice\u201d bills as professions like acupuncture, physical therapy and so on have sought to expand what the law allows them to do. Many of these bills attract very little attention outside the affected professions.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s success was the optometry bill. SB 367, sponsored by Majority Floor Leader Michael Sanchez (D. \u2013 Belen). It passed the Senate unanimously, then passed the House \u2013 also unanimously — 13 hours before the end of the session. It is now before the Governor. It would expand the authority of optometrists to prescribe drugs.<\/p>\n
Many patients don\u2019t even know there are two kinds of eye doctors, optometrists and ophthalmologists. Optometrists are not medical doctors. Ophthalmologists are, and were not in favor of this legislation. One ophthalmologist told me optometrists don\u2019t have enough training. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n
If the governor signs this bill, it will be up to you as a patient to decide whether you want your optometrist prescribing medication.<\/p>\n
The chiropractors\u2019 bill was SB 376, sponsored by Sen. Cisco McSorley, (D. \u2013 Albuquerque), who has carried similar legislation at least twice before. This bill also dealt with the right to prescribe. It would have created two levels of advanced certification for chiropractors and allowed the advanced practitioners to prescribe, inject or dispense \u201cdangerous drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The term \u201cdangerous drugs\u201d is defined in the New Mexico statutes (paragraph 26-1-2). It does not include illegal drugs but it does include drugs that have the potential to be toxic or addictive.<\/p>\n
The Fiscal Impact Report for this bill stated that if it is passed, \u201cNew Mexico will be the only State in the U.S. that allows Chiropractors to prescribe dangerous medications.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill passed one Senate committee and did not go any further.<\/p>\n
I have heard suggestions that the national associations of various professions target New Mexico as a relatively easy state to pass legislation expanding their scope of practice. If New Mexico approves an expansion, that makes it easier to get the same expansion approved in other states.<\/p>\n
Many public health needs are identified in New Mexico. Vision health is not a top priority. \u00a0If we have children going without eye exams or glasses, this legislation will not increase their access.<\/p>\n
What we know is that the dire need for dental health care is well established and it\u2019s been left unresolved once again.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em>Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2015<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How are legislators supposed to decide on the relative competencies of health care practitioners? In these matters, we are asking lawmakers to make a tough decision on topics outside their expertise. In some cases, it\u2019s not the public that\u2019s asking … Continue reading