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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fourth Legislature, Second Regular Session
Lyme; vector-borne diseases; treatment
Purpose
Allows licensed prescribing health professionals to prescribe, administer and dispense long-term antimicrobial therapy for a period of more than four weeks after making a clinical diagnosis that a patient has or displays symptoms of Lyme or a vector-borne disease.
Background
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and skin rash. If left untreated, infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system (CDC).
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, other states, such as Virginia, require health care providers to notify affected patients that laboratory testing can produce false negatives. In Maine, law mandates that the state’s Lyme disease website includes information about available treatments for Lyme disease, including long-term use of antibiotics. States such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, currently have laws that provide protection from disciplinary action for doctors who treat Lyme patients with long‑term antibiotics (NCSL).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Allows a licensed prescribing health professional to prescribe, administer or dispense long‑term antimicrobial therapy for the therapeutic purpose of eliminating pathogens or controlling a patient's symptoms, after making a clinical diagnosis that the patient has or displays symptoms consistent with Lyme or a vector-borne disease.
2. Requires a licensed prescribing health professional to document the clinical diagnosis and treatment in the patient's medical record.
3. Allows a clinical diagnosis to be based on the knowledge obtained through the patient's medical history and physical examination only or in conjunction with testing from a certified laboratory that provides supportive data for the clinical diagnosis.
4. Prohibits health profession regulatory boards from initiating disciplinary action against a licensed prescribing health professional for past, present or future administration of long-term antimicrobial therapy to a patient who is clinically diagnosed with Lyme or a vector-borne disease if the health professional has documented the clinical diagnosis and treatment in the patient's medical record.
5. Specifies that health profession regulatory boards are not prohibited from taking disciplinary action against or entering into consent orders with licensed prescribing health professionals as otherwise authorized by statute and related health professional regulatory board rules.
6. Specifies that long-term antimicrobial therapy may be administered after a clinical diagnosis or if a patient displays symptoms consistent with a clinical diagnosis of Lyme or a vector-borne disease.
7. Defines licensed prescribing health professional, long-term antimicrobial therapy and Lyme or a vector-borne disease.
8. Designates this legislation as the Ryan Montgomery Lyme Disease Treatment Act.
9. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Research
January 17, 2020
CRS/KS/gs