5782575 Health, Department of - Notice of Proposed Rulemakings - Amendments to Sections 5114 and 5199 to Chapter 51, ANESTHESIOLOGIST HESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

 

NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING

 

The Director of the Department of Health (“Department”), pursuant to Section 302 of the District of Columbia Health Occupations Revision Act of 1985, effective March 25, 1986 (D.C. Law 6-99; D.C. Official Code § 3-1203.02(14) (2012 Repl.)) as amended by the Anesthesiology Assistant Licensure Amendment Act of 2004, effective March 16, 2005 (D.C. Law 15-237; D.C. Official Code §§ 3-1201 et seq. (2012 Repl.)), and Mayor’s Order 98-140, dated August 20, 1998, hereby gives notice of the intent to take final rulemaking action to adopt the following amendments to Chapter 51 (Anesthesiologist Hesiologist Assistants) of Title 17 (Business, Occupations, and Professionals) of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR), in not less than thirty (30) days from the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register. 

 

The adoption of the amendments to Chapter 51 are necessary to retitle the chapter, to correct a typographical capitalization error in Sections 5114, to increase the number of anesthesiologist assistants a supervisory anesthesiologist may supervise at any time to four (4), and to fix a formatting error in Section 5199.

 

Chapter 51, Anesthesiologist Hesiologist Assistants, of Title 17 DCMR, BUSINESS, OCCUPATIONS, AND PROFESSIONALS, is amended as follows:

 

The title of Chapter 51 is amended to read as follows:

 

CHAPTER 51     Anesthesiologist Assistants

 

Section 5114, SUPERVISING ANESTHIOLOGIST, is amended as follows:

 

Subsection 5114.2 is amended to read as follows:

 

5114.2             A supervising anesthesiologist shall be present during the induction and emergence phases of a patient to whom anesthesia has been administered.

 

Subsection 5114.3 is amended to read as follows:

 

5114.3             A supervising anesthesiologist may supervise no more than four (4) anesthesiologist assistants at any one time, consistent with federal rules for reimbursement of anesthesia services.

 

Section 5199, DEFINITIONS, is amended as follows:

 

The definition “Committee” is amended to read as follows:

 

Committee - the Advisory Committee on Anesthesiologist Assistants, established by § 203(c-1) of the Act (D.C. Official Code § 3-1202.03(c-1) (2001 ed.)).

 

 

A new definition “Immediately Available” is added to read as follows:

 

Immediately available - the supervising anesthesiologist is:

 

(a)                Present in the building or facility in which anesthesia services are being provided by assistant; and

 

(b)               Able to directly provide assistance to the anesthesiologist assistant in providing anesthesia services to the patient in accordance with the prevailing standards of:

 

(1)               Acceptable medical practice;

 

(2)               The American Society of Anesthesiologists' guidelines for best practice of anesthesia in a care team model; and

 

(3)        Any additional requirements established by the Board of Medicine through a formal rulemaking process.

 

 

All persons desiring to comment on the subject matter of this proposed rulemaking action shall submit written comments, not later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register, to Phillip Husband, General Counsel, Department of Health, Office of the General Counsel, 899 North Capitol Street, N.E., 5^th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20002.    Copies of the proposed rules may be obtained between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. at the address listed above, or by contacting Angli Black, Administrative Assistant, at [e-mail], [phone].