Summary: The Qualified Oversight in Reproductive Care Act requires that, if a pregnancy clinic offers medical services, then it must identify the supervising medical professional to the state Department of Health and, upon request, tell a client who is supervising their medical care.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This Act shall be called the “Qualified Oversight in Reproductive Care Act.”
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
The legislature finds that:
1. Most unregulated pregnancy clinics (UPCs) [some advocates prefer “center” instead of “clinic”] do not have a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who supervises, in person, the medical services provided at the facility. Most UPCs claim they have a medical director, but that person is not named.
2. If a UPC provides medical services, like an obstetric ultrasound, it must be supervised by a physician or other legally-equivalent professional. Specifically, before an ultrasound examination, an order must be signed by a qualified medical provider and, after it is completed, the scan must be reviewed by a qualified medical provider. An ultrasound technician is not qualified to order or read an ultrasound examination.
3. The Department of Health has no way to ensure that medical services are being supervised by qualified providers because, in the overwhelming percentage of cases, it does not know the identity of the UPC’s medical provider or providers.
4. Clients often have no way to contact the doctor who is supposedly supervising their care because they don’t know who that is.
5. It is vital for clients to access early and reliable medical care to confirm pregnancy, gestational age, identify ectopic pregnancy, fetal anomaly, issues with the placenta or amniotic fluid, and any factors that could make the pregnancy high risk or dangerous. Such medical care may also be important for the health of the fetus.
6. If a pregnancy clinic provides medical services, it needs to be held to the standards of a legitimate health care provider.
SECTION 3. MEDICAL DIRECTOR RESPONSIBILITY
After section XXX, the following new section XXX shall be inserted:
(A) DEFINITIONS—In this section:
1. “Medical care” means conducting the “practice of medicine” as that term is defined under [cite state law].
2. “Qualified medical provider” means a physician licensed under [cite state law], a nurse practitioner licensed under [cite state law], or a physician assistant licensed under [cite state law], acting within their scope of practice.
3. “Unregulated pregnancy clinic” [some advocates prefer “center” instead of “clinic”] means a facility, including a mobile facility, that provides pregnancy-related medical care to clients, such as the administration of obstetric ultrasound, but is not a “covered entity” under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
(B) DISCLOSURE
1. An unregulated pregnancy clinic shall be required to:
(a) have a qualified medical provider who provides or supervises, and takes responsibility for, the provision of medical care at the facility;
(b) notify the department of health, in accordance with rules promulgated by the department, of the name and contact information for its qualified medical providers.
(c) disclose to a client, upon request, the name and contact information for the qualified medical provider who provided or supervised medical care to that client.
2. Any person who believes that a violation of this section has occurred may file a complaint with the department. Within thirty (30) days of receiving such complaint, the department shall investigate such complaint and determine whether a violation has occurred.
3. Any unregulated pregnancy clinic violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to a civil fine of not less than two hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars on the first violation and not less than five hundred dollars and not more than twenty-five hundred dollars on the second and all subsequent violations. [Adjust the civil penalty amounts to what is conventional in your own state.]
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE
This law shall become effective on July 1, 20XX.