ISAPN Members --
SUPPORT
SB 929 (Donahue-Ronen)
SB 929:
Amends the School Code to provide that Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) who have a written collaborative agreement with a collaborating physician, are authorized to perform health examinations, and physician assistants (PA) who have been delegated by their supervising physician, are given the ability to sign the school physical forms for exams she/he has performed.
· Currently APNs and PAs routinely perform school physicals. They do so in clinics, offices, on school premises, and in churches with no physician on site. Since APNs and PAs do not have the authority to sign the school physical exam form under current law, students must miss school while waiting for physicians to sign the form. The physician, on the other hand, signs a physical form for a school physical they did not perform on a student they have often never seen.
· Students transferring into Illinois to attend school often encounter delays in registering for classes while waiting for a physician to sign a school physical form. It is important to have the school physical form signed at the time of exam, by the person who performed it, and have the student register for school on the same day.
· Many families have limited time, due to multiple jobs, and must rely on public transportation to take their students for the required school exam - only to have to return later to pick up the signed school physical form. In some cases APNs and PAs are going into the schools to perform the exam, at no cost, so students can remain in school. They need to be able to sign the exam form at the time of the exam in order to accomplish this goal.
· Requiring only a physician to sign a school physical exam form, as it currently states in the School Code, results in access-to-care issues, many times in a population already plagued by poor access to health care.
· Other provisions in SB 929 include the authorization of APNs and PAs to perform examinations and sign the physical forms for school bus drivers and other drivers under provisions of the Vehicle Code.
ISAPN:
CALL TO ACTION
SB 929 (Donahue-Ronen)
SB 929 has been released from the Senate Rules Committee! The bill will be posted for a committee hearing on either February 20th or February 26th. Grassroots action is critical to get this bill out of the Senate Public Health Committee.
Call, write or visit members of the Senate Public Health Committee and urge them to vote SB 929 out of committee! It is especially important if one of the Committee members is your Senator because of constituent power.
Senate Public Health & Welfare Committee Members
Chairman: Syverson (R)
Donahue (R) Mahar (R)
Munoz (D) Obama (D) – Minority
Parker (R) – Vice Chairman Radogno (R)
Rauschenberger (R) Ronen (D)
Smith (D) Sullivan (R)
For more information on your specific Senators and Representatives, you can access