Bill Text: MS HB729 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Insurance Equality Act of 2015; create.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2015-02-03 - Died In Committee [HB729 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2015-HB729-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2015 Regular Session
To: Public Health and Human Services; Insurance
By: Representative Arnold
House Bill 729
AN ACT CREATE THE INSURANCE EQUALITY ACT OF 2015; TO AMEND SECTION 73-6-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT LICENSED CHIROPRACTORS MAY UTILIZE RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGIES TO PERFORM RADIOLOGIC SERVICES THAT ARE NECESSARY FOR CHIROPRACTIC SERVICES; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 83-41-215, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 73-6-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
73-6-1. (1) The practice of chiropractic involves the analysis of any interference with normal nerve transmission and expression, and the procedure preparatory to and complementary to the correction thereof, by adjustment and/or manipulation of the articulations of the vertebral column and for the restoration and maintenance of health without the use of drugs or surgery.
(2) The chiropractic adjustment and/or manipulation of the articulations of the human body may include manual adjustments and/or manipulations and adjustments and/or manipulations by means of electrical and/or mechanical manual devices. Chiropractors licensed under this chapter may also use in conjunction with adjustments and/or manipulations of the spinal structures electrical therapeutic modalities which induce heat or electrical current beneath the skin, including therapeutic ultrasound, galvanism, diathermy and electromuscular stimulation and other procedures taught by a chiropractic college approved by the Council on Chiropractic Education, its successor or an equivalent accrediting agency.
(3) Chiropractors licensed under this chapter may utilize those electric therapeutic modalities described in subsection (2) of this section only after the chiropractor has completed a course of study containing a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) hours of instruction in the proper utilization of those procedures in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Council on Chiropractic Education, its successor or an equivalent accrediting agency, and is qualified and so certified in that proper utilization.
(4) Chiropractors shall not prescribe or administer medicine to patients, perform surgery, practice obstetrics or osteopathy. Chiropractors shall be authorized to recommend, dispense or sell vitamins or food supplements.
(5) Chiropractors shall not use venipuncture, capillary puncture, acupuncture or any other technique which is invasive of the human body either by penetrating the skin or through any of the orifices of the body or through the use of colonics.
(6) A person professing to practice chiropractic for compensation must bring to the exercise of that person's profession a reasonable degree of care and skill. Any injury resulting from a want of such care and skill shall be a tort for which a recovery may be had. If a chiropractor performs upon a patient any act authorized to be performed under this chapter but which act also constitutes a standard procedure of the practice of medicine including, but not limited to, the use of modalities such as those described in subsection (2) of this section and x-rays, under similar circumstances, the chiropractor shall be held to the same standard of care as would licensed doctors of medicine who are qualified to and who actually perform those acts under similar conditions and like circumstances.
(7) Chiropractors licensed under this chapter are authorized to refer patients to licensed physical therapists for treatment.
(8) Doctors of chiropractic medicine may respond on a referral basis and under the direct and immediate supervision of a Mississippi licensed veterinarian to calls for animals requiring their professional services provided the chiropractor has a current license from the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the chiropractor has completed a Mississippi Board of Veterinary Medicine approved animal chiropractic course.
(9) Chiropractors licensed under this chapter may utilize radiologic technologies to perform radiologic services that are necessary for chiropractic services.
SECTION 2. Section 83-41-215, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
83-41-215. Whenever any policy of insurance or any medical service plan or hospital service contract or hospital and medical service contract issued in this state provides for reimbursement for any service which is within the lawful scope of practice of a duly licensed chiropractor as defined in Section 73-6-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, then such service may be performed by a duly licensed chiropractor, and the insured or other person entitled to benefits under such policy, plan or contract shall be entitled to reimbursement for such services. The insured shall have the right to choose the place where the service is to be performed as well as the chiropractor to perform such service, provided that such service shall be performed in the chiropractor's office, clinic or regular place of business.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2015.
