Bill Text: MI HB4156 | 2013-2014 | 97th Legislature | Chaptered
Bill Title: Occupations; health care professions; special volunteer license; expand retired health professionals eligible to obtain and provide immunity under certain circumstances. Amends secs. 16184 & 16185 of 1978 PA 368 (MCL 333.16184 & 333.16185).
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 9-1)
Status: (Passed) 2013-12-03 - Assigned Pa 171'13 With Immediate Effect [HB4156 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2013-HB4156-Chaptered.html
Act No. 171
Public Acts of 2013
Approved by the Governor
November 18, 2013
Filed with the Secretary of State
November 18, 2013
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 18, 2013
STATE OF MICHIGAN
97TH LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION OF 2013
Introduced by Reps. Potvin, Lauwers, Hooker, Bumstead, Lane, Johnson, O’Brien, Foster, Shirkey and Franz
ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4156
AN ACT to amend 1978 PA 368, entitled “An act to protect and promote the public health; to codify, revise, consolidate, classify, and add to the laws relating to public health; to provide for the prevention and control of diseases and disabilities; to provide for the classification, administration, regulation, financing, and maintenance of personal, environmental, and other health services and activities; to create or continue, and prescribe the powers and duties of, departments, boards, commissions, councils, committees, task forces, and other agencies; to prescribe the powers and duties of governmental entities and officials; to regulate occupations, facilities, and agencies affecting the public health; to regulate health maintenance organizations and certain third party administrators and insurers; to provide for the imposition of a regulatory fee; to provide for the levy of taxes against certain health facilities or agencies; to promote the efficient and economical delivery of health care services, to provide for the appropriate utilization of health care facilities and services, and to provide for the closure of hospitals or consolidation of hospitals or services; to provide for the collection and use of data and information; to provide for the transfer of property; to provide certain immunity from liability; to regulate and prohibit the sale and offering for sale of drug paraphernalia under certain circumstances; to provide for the implementation of federal law; to provide for penalties and remedies; to provide for sanctions for violations of this act and local ordinances; to provide for an appropriation and supplements; to repeal certain acts and parts of acts; to repeal certain parts of this act; and to repeal certain parts of this act on specific dates,” by amending sections 16184 and 16185 (MCL 333.16184 and 333.16185), as amended by 2012 PA 4.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Sec. 16184. (1) An individual who is retired from engaging in the active practice of a health profession and who wishes to donate his or her expertise for the health care and treatment of indigent and needy individuals in this state or for the health care and treatment of individuals in medically underserved areas of this state may obtain a special volunteer license to engage in the practice of the health profession from which he or she is retired by submitting an application to the board under this section. An applicant shall submit an application for a special volunteer license on a form provided by the department and shall include each of the following:
(a) Documentation that the individual has been previously licensed to engage in the practice of a health profession in this state and that his or her license was in good standing at the time his or her license expired.
(b) Acknowledgment and documentation that the applicant will not receive any payment or compensation, either direct or indirect, or have the expectation of any payment or compensation, for any health care and treatment services provided under the special volunteer license.
(c) If the applicant has been out of practice for 3 or more years, documentation that, during the 3 years immediately preceding the application, he or she has attended at least 2/3 of the continuing education courses or programs required for that health profession under this article or any rules promulgated under this article for the renewal of a license for that health profession.
(2) If the board determines that the application of the individual satisfies the requirements of subsection (1) and that the individual meets the requirements for a license under this article and rules promulgated under this article, the board shall grant a special volunteer license to the applicant. A licensee seeking renewal under this section shall provide the board with an updated acknowledgment and documentation as described in subsection (1)(b). Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the board shall not charge a fee for the issuance or renewal of a special volunteer license under this section.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, an individual who is granted a special volunteer license under this section and who accepts the privilege of engaging in the practice of a health profession in this state is subject to all of the provisions of this article applicable to that health profession, including those provisions concerning continuing education and disciplinary action.
(4) For purposes of this section, an individual is considered retired from engaging in the practice of a health profession if the individual’s license has expired with the individual’s intention of ceasing to engage, for remuneration, in the practice of the health profession.
(5) An individual who is granted a special volunteer license under this section shall only engage in activities within the scope of practice of the health profession for which he or she was licensed before his or her retirement.
(6) As used in this section and section 16185, “health profession” means a health profession for which an individual must be licensed, registered, or otherwise authorized under article 15 to practice in this state.
Sec. 16185. (1) Subject to subsection (2), an individual who provides care under a special volunteer license to engage in the practice of a health profession granted under section 16184 is not liable in a civil action for personal injury or death proximately caused by the professional negligence or malpractice of the individual in providing the care if both of the following apply:
(a) The care is provided at a health facility or agency that provides at least 75% of its care annually to medically indigent individuals.
(b) The individual does not receive and does not intend to receive compensation for providing the care.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if the negligent conduct or malpractice of the individual is gross negligence.
(3) As used in this section:
(a) “Gross negligence” means conduct so reckless as to demonstrate a substantial lack of concern for whether an injury results.
(b) “Medically indigent individual” means that term as defined in section 106 of the social welfare act, 1939 PA 280, MCL 400.106.
This act is ordered to take immediate effect.
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Secretary of the Senate
Approved
Governor
