Report of Regents Professional Practice Committee to The Board of Regents

Your Professional Practice Committee held its scheduled meeting on May 10, 2021. All Committee members participated in the meeting by video conference.

ACTION ITEMS

Professional Discipline Cases

Your Committee recommends that the reports of the Regents Review Committees, including rulings, findings of fact, determinations as to guilt, and recommendations, by unanimous or majority vote, contained in those reports which have been distributed to you, be accepted in 2 cases.  In addition, your Committee recommends, upon the recommendation of the Committee on the Professions, that 22 consent order applications and 14 surrender applications be granted, and further recommends that 1 summary suspension application be granted, with Regent Elizabeth S. Hakanson abstaining in such summary suspension case.

These recommendations are made following the review of 39 cases involving ten registered professional nurses, five licensed practical nurses, four licensed practical nurses who are also registered professional nurses, three pharmacists, two dentists, two massage therapists, one certified public accountant, one landscape architect, one licensed clinical social worker, one licensed master social worker who is also a licensed clinical social worker, one pharmacy, one professional engineer, one speech-language pathologist, and one veterinary technician.

MOTION FOR ACTION BY FULL BOARD

Chancellor and Colleagues: Your Professional Practice Committee recommends, and we move, that the Board of Regents act affirmatively upon each recommendation in the written report of the Committee's deliberations at its meeting on May 10, 2021, copies of which have been distributed to each Regent.

MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION

Your Committee discussed several topics of interest, including:

Deputy Commissioner's Report/Update 

• Full Board Consent Agenda Items
  • Board (Re)Appointments
  • Licensing Petitions/Conferral of Degrees
  • New York Institute of Technology—Master Plan Amendment for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree program in Engineering
  • Roberts Wesleyan College—Master Plan Amendment for the Doctor of Occupational Therapy (O.T.D.) program in Occupational Therapy
  • City University of New York Graduate School and University Center: Authorization to Award the Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.) Degree

Adoption of Proposed Amendments to Sections 29.2 and 29.7 of the Rules of the Board of Regents and the Title of Part 63 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education and Addition of Sections 63.14 and 63.15 to the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Licensure of Registered Pharmacy Technicians (Discussion & Action)

The proposed rule conforms the Rules of the Board of Regents and the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to Chapter 414  of the Laws of 2019, which, effective April 25, 2021, amended the Education Law by, inter alia, establishing and defining the new profession of registered pharmacy technicians. Registered pharmacy technicians may only practice in facilities licensed in accordance with Article 28 of the Public Health Law, or pharmacies owned and operated by such facilities, under the direct personal supervision of a licensed pharmacist employed in such facilities or pharmacies. The proposed rule, among other things, establishes the licensure requirements for registered pharmacy technicians, which include education, certification, age, moral character, application and fee requirements; adds registered pharmacy technicians to the list of health care professions that are subject to the Regents’ unprofessional conduct provisions; establishes limitations on how an unlicensed person may assist a licensed pharmacist in the dispensing of drugs; and establishes supervision ratios. 

Proposed Amendment to Sections 52.14 and 73.1 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Relating to the Requirements for Chiropractic Education Programs and Education Requirements for Licensure as a Chiropractor (Discussion)

The proposed amendments conformtsections 52.14 and 73.1(a) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to the national preprofessional education standards for chiropractor licensure by, among other things, requiring the completion of not less than 90 semester hours of preprofessional postsecondary education, with a GPA of not less than 2.75 on a 4.0 scale or its substantial equivalent as determined by the Department and a minimum of 24 semester hours in life and physical science, which may include, but is not limited to, courses in general biology, human anatomy, physiology, general chemistry, biochemistry, physics, biomechanics and kinesiology, and, of these 24 semester hours, half of such courses must include a laboratory component.  The proposed amendment to section 73.1(a) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education  alsoprovides applicants, who lack not more than 30 credits of the required 90 semester hours of preprofessional postsecondary education, to satisfy this requirement by either completing an internship acceptable to the Department; or graduate study acceptable to the Department, after earning a degree in chiropractic.

Update from Regent Cea regarding the resolution adopted by the Board of Regents in December which called for action to incorporate substantive content on the health needs of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) into the medical school curriculum. The Federation of State Medical Boards adopted this resolution at their May 1 meeting.