BILL REQ. #:  H-1032.2 

Read first time 02/11/2005.   Referred to Committee on Higher Education.

     AN ACT Relating to regulating team medical professionals who work with student-athletes; adding a new section to chapter 28B.10 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature intends that athletic programs authorized under RCW 28B.10.703 reflect positively upon the colleges or universities of which they are part. Academic excellence, the integrity of honest competition, and the health of student-athletes, must not be subordinated to the pursuit of athletic success.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 28B.10 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (a) "Student-athlete" means an individual who engages in, is eligible to engage in, or may be eligible in the future to engage in, any intercollegiate athletic program.
     (b) "Team medical professional" means any medical professional with prescription-writing authority who meets the definition of practitioner under RCW 69.41.010 and who student-athletes have access to through an intercollegiate athletic program.
     (2) Intercollegiate athletic programs must formally contract with team medical professionals. The contract must include provisions stating that: (a) The athletic program will accept liability for the actions of team medical professionals relative to student-athletes; and (b) the duty of the team medical professional to safeguard the health of a student-athlete trumps any considerations of athletic or team success. Before a contract may be signed, the team medical professional must submit to a criminal background check and a review of his or her medical malpractice history by an assistant attorney general assigned to the college or university.
     (3) Team medical professionals may not directly dispense any prescription pharmaceuticals to student-athletes for a course of treatment that lasts longer than one day. A student-athlete must fill a prescription written by a team medical professional through a pharmacy licensed under chapter 18.64 RCW.
     (4) At least once a month, without identifying student-athletes, a team medical professional must issue to the athletic director of the college or university a report detailing all prescriptions for Schedule II drugs under RCW 69.50.206 written by the team medical professional for that reporting period.
     (5) A team medical professional may not prescribe Schedule II drugs under RCW 69.50.206 to a student-athlete for a course of treatment that lasts longer than two weeks, unless the team medical professional consults with another medical professional who works outside the athletic program and who agrees that the prescription is necessary. The agreement must be made in writing and included with the report required in subsection (4) of this section.