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REFERENCE TITLE: Lyme; vector-borne diseases; treatment. |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session 2020
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HB 2254 |
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Introduced by Representative Blackman
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AN ACT
Amending Title 32, chapter 32, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 32‑3228; relating to health care professionals.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 32, chapter 32, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 32-3228, to read:
32-3228. Lyme and vector-borne diseases; treatment; definitions
A. A licensed prescribing health professional may prescribe, administer or dispense long‑term antimicrobial therapy for a therapeutic purpose to eliminate pathogens or to control a patient's symptoms after making a clinical diagnosis that the patient has Lyme or a vector-borne disease or displays symptoms consistent with a clinical diagnosis of Lyme or a vector-borne disease. The licensed prescribing health professional shall document the clinical diagnosis and treatment in the patient's medical record. The clinical diagnosis may be based on knowledge obtained through the patient's medical history and physical examination only or in conjunction with testing from a laboratory that is certified under the clinical laboratory improvement amendments of 1988 (P.L. 100-578) or has an equivalent certification and the testing provides supportive data for the clinical diagnosis.
B. Notwithstanding any other law, a health profession regulatory board may not initiate disciplinary action against a licensed prescribing health professional due to past, present or future prescribing, administering or dispensing of long‑term antimicrobial therapy to a patient who is clinically diagnosed with Lyme or a vector-borne disease if the licensed prescribing health professional has documented the clinical diagnosis and treatment in the patient's medical record.
C. This section does not prohibit a health profession regulatory board from taking disciplinary action against or entering into a consent order with a licensed prescribing health professional, for any reason other than those prescribed in this section, pursuant to this title and the health profession regulatory board's rules adopted pursuant to this title.
D. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Licensed prescribing health professional" means a health professional who is licensed or certified pursuant to this title and who has prescribing authority.
2. "Long‑term antimicrobial therapy" means the administration of oral, intramuscular or intravenous antimicrobials, singly or in combination, for more than four weeks.
3. "Lyme or a vector-borne disease":
(a) Means any of the following:
(i) The presence in a patient of signs or symptoms compatible with acute infection with lyme or a vector-borne disease.
(ii) Late stage, persistent or chronic infection with Lyme or a vector-borne disease.
(iii) Complications related to an infection under item (i) or (ii) of this subdivision that arise subsequent to the initial infection.
(iv) Other variances of Lyme or a vector-borne disease, including borrelia and all known and unknown variants as well as pathogens that include viral, parasitic, bacterial and other infectious agents that may, but is not required to, be recognized by the United States centers for disease control and prevention as a cause of lyme or a vector-borne disease.
(b) Includes an infection that may, but is not required to, meet the surveillance criteria for Lyme disease established by the United States centers for disease control and prevention and other acute and chronic manifestations of such infections as determined by a licensed prescribing health professional.
Sec. 2. Short title
This act may be cited as the "Ryan Montgomery Lyme Disease Treatment Act".