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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Vigil

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01/26/06

HB HJM 22

SHORT TITLE

Study Licensing Military Corpsmen As Nurses

SB

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY06

FY07

FY08 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$15.0

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Board of Nursing (BN)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Joint Memorial 22 requests the Board of Nursing:

•

Study the licensing of military hospital corpsmen as nurses;

•

conduct an in-depth comparison of curricula, training and job descriptions of military

hospital corpsmen against requirements for levels of licensure for nurses in New

Mexico and explore at what level of licensure military hospital corpsmen should be

able to sit for the examination and become licensed as nurses; and

House Joint Memorial Bill 22 – Page

2

•

consult with military and civilian physicians and hospital administrators, nursing

home administrators, home health agencies, schools of nursing and other appropriate

parties.

The Board of Nursing must report its findings to the appropriate interim legislative commit-

tee by November 1, 2006.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Board of Nursing indicates that it did not request funds for this study but that the funding for

the Study could be appropriated from the Board’s cash balance. The board recommends a task

force of approximately 15 members to include military and civilian physicians, hospital adminis-

trators, nursing home administrators, home health agencies, schools of nursing and other appro-

priate parties, will need to be convened by the Board of Nursing. Convening a specific task

force will require additional resources for telephone, postage, supplies and travel. The board es-

timates a need for 4 to 6 meetings. Costs for telephone, postage, supplies, per deim, and travel is

estimated at $15,000.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Board of Nursing indicates that at the December 2005 board meeting a presentation was

made requesting that military hospital corpsmen be allowed to sit for the practical nurse exami-

nation and be licensed as Licensed Practical Nurses. The board directed that a committee be

formed to study the issue. A planning meeting was conducted in December with the Board’s

Assistant Director, representatives from the New Mexico Nursing Association, a nursing pro-

gram director, and a private school. Other meetings are planned to look at this issue. The board

also directed that military hospital corpsmen could submit their transcripts for evaluation to de-

termine if it is an acceptable level of education to take the examination.

The Board has addressed this issue administratively, and looks at each applicant for licensure on

an individual basis; If a military corpsman wishes to sit for the National Exam and the transcript

and education are reviewed as equivalent to the criteria for having “nursing”, then that applicant

would be allowed to sit for the exam.

The board of nursing indicates that this memorial is requesting action on an issue that is already

being considered by the Board. It is important to note that simply to state that a corpsman was

doing nursing functions in their military role does not mean that they have the requisite knowl-

edge regarding the “practice of nursing” that is mandatory to sit for the National Licensing

Exam. Nursing is not merely doing tasks, but utilizing the body of knowledge that allows the

Nursing Process of assessment, intervention, evaluation, implementation and research to work

for the benefit of the patient/client in a comprehensive fashion.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The Board of Nursing must report its findings to an interim legislative committee by November

1, 2006.

House Joint Memorial Bill 22 – Page

3

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The board indicates that it will be difficult with current staff to meet the deadline in this joint

memorial as we are in the process of implementing Licensure 2000 which will enhance the licen-

sure process and impact the current nursing shortage in a positive way. Staff would need to be

reassigned from current activities to meet the time line mandated in House Joint Memorial 22.

The board does not indicate the time frame their own internal study would take with these same

constraints.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

While House Joint Memorial 22 does not request a study of licensure of hospital corpsmen as

emergency medical technicians, the memorial does suggest that military hospital corpsmen pro-

vide services similar to civilian emergency medical technicians. The Department of Health ad-

ministers the Emergency Medical Services Act and licenses emergency medical technicians. It

may be worthwhile to have the Department explore this option for military hospital corpsmen.

GM/mt