Notice of Rulemaking Activity

The Louisiana State Board of Nursing in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, R.S. 49:950 et seq., and through the authority granted in R.S. 37:918 is proposing a rule for revisions and technical changes to Chapter 45, Sections 4505,4507 and 4513. The revisions will align with a federal act that was signed by President Donald Trump and became law on October 24, 2018. The SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act provides authority for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to prescribe buprenorphine through medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Act 414 of the 2019 Louisiana legislature followed suit in upholding the federal guidelines for APRNs. Louisiana APRNs, within approved collaborative practice agreements with physicians, will be eligible to treat up to 100 patients per year for five years. In addition to MAT, the LSBN will make the following changes listed below.

1) LSBN will align rules and language for the APRN with language in the Nurse Licensure Compact. This change will allow for APRNs to either hold a current, unencumbered, unrestricted and valid RN license in Louisiana or hold an active RN multistate license in a compact state other than Louisiana.

2) LSBN will clarify reference to the Louisiana Pharmacy Practice Act. Due to a change in the Louisiana State Board of Pharmacy rules, LSBN will revise the pharmacy reference in section 4513. The reference is related to formatting prescriptions.

3) A technical change will be made to reflect the cross reference in section 4513. LAC XLV.6515 should read LAC XLV.6915 in the Administrative Procedure Act.

The first step in the rulemaking process is the publication of the Board's Notice of Intent in the January edition of the Louisiana Register. As of January 20, 2021, you will be able to access the publication free of charge at the state register's website at http://www.doa.la.gov/osr. The Notice of Intent can be found here.

NOTE: In the La Register, the deadline for the Board to receive written comments is January 20, 2021. The actual date that the Board will accept written comments on the proposed revisions is February 10, 2021.

LSBN has also exercised the emergency provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act, specifically R.S 49:953(B), allowing (1) delegation of the administration of COVID-19 vaccines by RNs or APRNs to unlicensed personnel in all settings (§3709) and (2) granting temporary approval to RNs with retired or inactive licenses, which license was not encumbered at the time it was retired or made inactive, to obtain a limited RN disaster permit (§3328). The permit will be granted to RNs who are eligible for reinstatement of a retired or inactive license in Louisiana and the limited disaster permit allows solely for tasks directly related to the administration and delegation of COVID-19 vaccinations. This Rule shall remain in effect during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency as declared by the Governor, or until permanent rules are promulgated in accordance with the law. The immediate need for qualified health care providers to administer the COVID-19 vaccinations necessitated the need to adopt an emergency rule.

The Emergency rule COVID-19 can be accessed on the La Register website under the Emergency Rule section. The Emergency Rule can be found here.

Please direct all written communications regarding this proposal to my attention at the Board office.

For the Board
Karen C. Lyon, PhD, RN, NEA
Executive Director