Committee backs SB150 to create review process for health-care scope-of-practice changes

Senator Vickers told the Business and Labor Committee that SB150 is designed to give lawmakers better professional information when proposals arise to change health-care scope of practice. "My whole goal with the bill is to try to get good information to the legislature so we can make good decisions," he said during his presentation.

Under the bill, an entity — a legislator, a professional board, a provider or an organization — could request that the Office of Professional Licensure Review (OPLR) convene a technical team to assess a specific innovation or procedural change. The sponsor said that team would include industry representatives, board designees and subject-matter experts who would evaluate whether a new technology or approach could safely be used by a different level of practitioner and then report back to the business-and-labor interim committee.

Margaret Willie Bussey, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, testified in support. "If lower trained and lower cost practitioners are able to use these technologies to perform the same service, that is a huge win for patients," she said, adding the department and OPLR view the bill as an opportunity to increase access and lower costs.

Committee members asked procedural questions about a substitute and an amendment that creates a direct liaison from affected professional boards to the review team; the sponsor confirmed a first substitute and a small technical amendment that formalize the board connection. Representative Wilcox moved to pass out the substitute; the motion carried on a voice vote and the committee recommended SB150 favorably.

The committee record shows the bill will return through the normal committee-of-origin process with the committee’s recommendation; any statutory change would still require subsequent floor action and votes by the full Legislature.