Two carryover bills TMA actively opposed last session were delayed this week following the organization’s advocacy efforts.

The first, SB474/HB387 by Sen. Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) and Rep. Ed Butler (R-Rickman), would limit health care providers from inquiring about patients ownership, possession of or access to firearms and ammunition, and prohibit them from denying treatment based upon the patient’s response. Under the proposal, violation of this prohibition would subject a practitioner to disciplinary action by his or her licensing board and a fine of $1,000 per violation.

While the amended version of the bill exempts qualified mental health professionals and allows health care providers to assess lethality risk of a patient if he or she poses a “credible, actual risk to themselves or others,” TMA remains opposed to the legislation over concerns that such a restriction would inhibit a physician’s ability to protect children from preventable firearm injury and educate parents about safe gun storage, an issue on which TMA has House of Delegates policy.

Although the bill has yet to make progress in the upper chamber, its House counterpart has already passed the subcommittee. The Senate version was deferred in the Senate Health & Welfare Committee until March 11, while the House version was rolled one week. It is set to be considered in the House Health Committee next Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 1:30pm CT.

A second bill involves a proposal seeking to strengthen civil penalties for mailing or delivering abortion-inducing drugs into Tennessee.

The House version of the bill, HB5 by Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood), would make companies that mail or deliver abortion-inducing drugs to a patient strictly liable for $5 million in damages for wrongful death injury claims should the drug lead to the death of an unborn child.

While TMA has successfully amended physicians out of the legislation, the remaining objection is the potential precedent it would set in future civil litigation. TMA’s decades-long advocacy surrounding tort reform could be nullified should the bill successfully advance. In effect, raising the state’s caps on damages for unborn children could lead to caps on non-economic damages arising from medical malpractice claims to be raised as well.

Fortunately, the Senate version of the bill that has already passed excludes this strict liability language. Thus, if the House version advances in its current form, lawmakers will need to negotiate on which version to adopt in order for it to become law. TMA will continue to advocate for the Senate version of the bill when meeting with lawmakers.

The bill was rolled three weeks and will be taken up again in the House Health Committee on Tuesday, March 3 at 1:30pm CT.

OPTOMETRIST SURGERY

A bill that would allow optometrists to perform eye surgery in Tennessee is set to be considered in the Senate next week.

As introduced, SB2076/HB1952 by Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson) and Rep. Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) would make two major changes to the scope of practice of licensed optometrists. First, it would expand the area optometrists are permitted to treat to include the eyelids and eye’s adnexa (e.g. eyelids, eyelashes, tear systems, extraocular muscles, eye socket, conjunctiva and connective tissues). Second, the legislation would authorize optometrists who meet specific training and experience requirements (as determined by the state licensing board) to perform certain surgeries, including light amplification by stimulated emissions of radiation (LASER) assisted procedures and surgical treatment of eyelid lesions or eye’s adnexa as a result of non-pathological aging, in addition to repealing the current prohibition on the use of non-diagnostic ophthalmic lasers.

Under the bill, optometrists would not be allowed to perform any surgery that requires pre-operative and post-operative care, such as retinal laser procedures or incisions of the retina, corneal excisions or transplants, incision of the iris or ciliary body, and other non-laser surgeries.

TMA is working with its multi-specialty partners in the Coalition of Collaborative Care to defeat this and other proposed scope expansions and to educate lawmakers on the risks posed to patients.