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         6              NEVADA STATE BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS

                                     BOARD MEETING

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         9                    Thursday, September 4, 2003

                                      Reno, Nevada

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                  Reported By:  PEGGY BAKER HOOGS, CCR #160, RDR, CRR

        24                                         CALIFORNIA CSR #5958

 

 

 

 

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         1                      -oOo-  APPEARANCES  -oOo-

               

         2     

               THE BOARD:             CHERYL A. HUG-ENGLISH, M.D.

         3                            President

              

         4                            JACULINE C. JONES, Ed.D

                                      Vice-President

         5    

                                      DONALD H. BAEPLER, Ph.D., DSc

         6                            Secretary-Treasurer

              

         7                            STEPHEN K. MONTOYO, M.D.

              

         8                            SOHAIL U. ANJUM, M.D.

              

         9                            JOEL N. LUBRITZ, M.D.

              

        10                            ROBIN L. TITUS, M.D.

              

        11                            MARLENE J. KIRCH

              

        12                            JAVAID ANWAR, M.D.

                       

        13                            CHARLOTTE M. BIBLE, J.D.

                                      Assistant Chief Deputy

        14                              Attorney General

                                     

        15                            RICHARD J. LEGARZA, J.D.

                                      General Counsel

        16    

               ALSO PRESENT:          LARRY D. LESSLY, J.D.

        17                            Executive Secretary/Special

                                        Counsel

        18                                    

                                      DRENNAN A. CLARK

        19                            Deputy Executive Secretary/

                                        Special Counsel

        20         

                                      MAUREEN E. LYONS

        21                            Deputy Executive Secretary

              

        22                            PAM GABICA

                                      Administrative Assistant

        23                

                   

        24                                                      

                          

 

 

 

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         1                               INDEX

                                           

         2                            Agenda Items

              

         3     1    Call to Order and Announcements                   4

              

         4     2    Approval of Minutes                               7

              

         5     3    Personnel                                         8

              

         6     4    Consideration of Continuation of Contract

                    with Nevada Broadcaster's Association for

         7          the Board's Public Service Announcement

                    Program for October 1 through December 31,

         8          2003                                             10

              

         9     5    Consideration of Amendments to NAC Chapter 630   12

              

        10     6    Consideration of Request by Washoe Medical

                    Center for Approval of Practitioner of

        11          Respiratory Care Training Programs per

                    NRS 630.047(1)(e) and (f)(1)                     25

        12    

               7    Consideration of Request by Mountain View

        13          Hospital for Approval of Practitioner of

                    Respiratory Care Training Programs per

        14          NRS 630.047(1)(e) and (f)(1)                     25

              

        15     8    Discussion of Standards for Licensure by

                    Endorsement and Setting of Application Fees

        16          for Licensure By Endorsement and

                    Administrative Physician License Types           26

        17    

               9    Legal Reports

        18    

               10   Reports                                          48

        19    

               11   Executive Staff Reports                          63

        20    

               17   Ratification of Licenses Issued and

        21          Reinstatements of Licensure and Changes of

                    Licensure Status Approved Since the

        22          May 30 & 31, 2003 Board Meeting                  93

              

        23    

              

        24    

              

 

 

 

                                     3

 


 

 

         1                    TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 

 

         2                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I'd like to call this

 

         3     meeting of the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners -- 

 

         4     this is September 4th's meeting -- to order.

 

         5                 Can everybody hear me down in Las Vegas? 

 

         6     Wave if you can hear.

 

         7                 (Waving.)

 

         8                 Thank you.  Welcome to all of you up here

 

         9     both on the Board and in our audience as well as the

 

        10     members that we have in Las Vegas.  If you are having

 

        11     problems with the system, I know there's someone down

 

        12     there at your end, but if you can let us know as well so

 

        13     that we can stop and take care of the problem.

 

        14                 The first item on our agenda today, I want to

 

        15     just make note of the fact that at our last meeting we

 

        16     made some new appointments to our investigative

 

        17     committee.  We actually, for the first time on this

 

        18     Board, have two investigative committees because of our

 

        19     increased caseload that we talked about at our last

 

        20     meeting, but we did -- I recognized after the meeting

 

        21     that we needed to revise the committee appointments, and

 

        22     so the new committees, the first committee is headed by

 

        23     Dr. Baepler, who is also our secretary/treasurer, and the

 

        24     members on that investigative committee include Dr. Anjum

 

 

 

 

                                     4

 


 

 

         1     and Dr. Titus, and on the second investigative committee,

 

         2     Dr. Lubritz is the chair of that committee, and

 

 

         3     Dr. Montoya and Marlene Kirch serve on that as well.  So

 

         4     those are our two investigative committees.

 

         5                 I can share with the Board that one of those

 

         6     committees has been hard at work since early this morning

 

         7     and has really not had much of a break.  It is very

 

         8     intense, a lot of hard work to serve on those committees,

 

         9     and I appreciate the effort of, really, six of our board

 

        10     members now doing that, and as they know well, there are

 

        11     many cases to review, and it is a great deal of work, so

 

        12     I appreciate that.

 

        13                 Secondly, it's my pleasure to announce that

 

        14     we have a new board member joining us, and we're thrilled

 

        15     to have you here.  Dr. Anwar is joining us.  He is a

 

        16     physician from Las Vegas.  He's an internist.  He's also

 

        17     the CEO of Quality Care Consultants, which is a medical

 

        18     quality and utilization company, and he has served as the

 

        19     chairman in the Department of Internal Medicine at

 

        20     Sunrise Hospital and also as a physician advisory at that

 

        21     hospital.  We're thrilled to have you on the Board,

 

        22     welcome, and I think you'll enjoy it.

 

        23                 Dr. Anwar, as most of you know, succeeded

 

        24     Dr. Stewart's position on the Board.

 

 

 

 

                                     5

 


 

 

         1                 And in addition, we have a new person joining

 

         2     us as the Deputy Executive Secretary and Counsel, and

 

         3     that is Mr. Tony Clark, and we are thrilled to have you

 

         4     as well, and Tony has been working with us, really, the

 

         5     last few months, but this is your first official board

 

         6     meeting, so welcome to you.  We're glad to have you on

 

         7     board as well.

 

         8                 I think the fact that we have seen the need

 

         9     to both increase our investigative committee members, it

 

        10     is also meant that we have some additional staff that the

 

        11     Board has had to hire and will continue to have to hire

 

        12     because of the increased workload that this Board finds

 

        13     itself with the number -- increased number of cases, a

 

        14     lot of that relating to revisions in the law with SB1 and

 

        15     other changes through the Legislature, and so we're

 

        16     trying to keep up with the curve, and so we have made

 

        17     some changes to our staff, and, Dick, maybe you'd like to

 

        18     talk about some of your additional staff members.

 

        19                 MR. LEGARZA:  Present in the room are two new

 

        20     employees in the investigative department.  First, Pam

 

        21     Gabica, Administrative Assistant.  Pam, would you stand

 

        22     and say hi to everyone.

 

        23                 MS. GABICA:  Hi.

 

        24                 MR. LEGARZA:  And sitting behind her is Trent

 

 

 

 

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         1     Hyatt, who is a new investigator with the investigative

 

         2     department.

 

         3                 MR. HYATT:  Hi, everyone.

 

         4                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Welcome.  And, again, we're

 

         5     thrilled to have both of you with us, and I know we will

 

         6     keep you busy.

 

         7                 Moving on, Agenda Item No. 2 is approval of

 

         8     the minutes, and we have actually two meetings that you

 

         9     needed to look at.  That was from the May 30th and 31st

 

        10     board meeting as well as our July 11th telephone

 

        11     conference call, and I have a couple of changes that I

 

        12     think we need to look at.

 

        13                 One is on page 25 under Agenda Item 14, which

 

        14     involves the adjudication in the matter of Nevada State

 

        15     Board of Medical Examiners versus Renee Claudia Bovell,

 

        16     and in the minutes it indicates that we found Dr. Bovell

 

        17     guilty of one count of malpractice, and that, from my

 

        18     recollection, is not correct.  It was really the fact

 

        19     that she was practicing with an inactive license, so I

 

        20     think we need to make that change to the minutes.

 

        21                 And then secondly, in Agenda Item No. 16,

 

        22     which is the adjudication involving Dr. Watson, it also

 

        23     states that he was found guilty of one count of

 

        24     malpractice, and, again, he was basically sanctioned for

 

 

 

 

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         1     not appearing before the Board.  It wasn't a malpractice

 

         2     issue.  So I'd like those changes made in the minutes.

 

         3                 Are there others that anyone else has noted? 

 

         4     If not, I'd ask for a motion for approval of the minutes

 

 

         5     for both meetings.

 

         6                 DR. MONTOYO:  So moved.

 

         7                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

         9     second to approve the minutes from both the May 30th-31st

 

        10     meeting as well as our conference call on July 11th.

 

        11                 All in favor?

 

        12                 (Ayes.)

 

        13                 Opposed?

 

        14                 Chair votes in favor of the motion, motion

 

        15     carries, and the minutes are approved.

 

        16                 Now we're moving on to our personnel session,

 

        17     and for this particular part of our agenda, I do need a

 

 

        18     motion to go into closed session.

 

        19                 DR. LUBRITZ:  So moved.

 

        20                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

        21                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Motion and second.  All in

 

        22     favor?

 

        23                 (Ayes.)

 

        24                 We're in closed session.

 

 

 

 

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         1                 MR. LESSLY:  Could I ask that everyone be

 

         2     excused other than Mr. Clark, Mr. Legarza and Ms. Lyons. 

 

         3                 (Closed session proceedings not reported.)

 

         4                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  We are back in open session

 

         5     and we're experiencing our first technical challenge.  It

 

         6     is -- and, please, we are trying to maintain contact with

 

         7     you down there so that if there are glitches, we'll try

 

         8     to work through them.

 

         9                 We're still in our personnel session, and,

 

        10     Larry, did you want to make a comment?

 

        11                 MR. LESSLY:  Yes.  Thank you.

 

        12                 To my right is Stephen D. Quinn, who is an

 

        13     attorney with the Attorney General's office.  Mr. Quinn

 

        14     has represented this Board in civil rights litigation and

 

        15     other litigation in that capacity.  I will tell you that

 

        16     I have appointed him the Deputy General Counsel.  He will

 

        17     be coming on board with the staff in about two weeks and

 

        18     will be replacing Mr. Legarza for Mr. Legarza's

 

        19     retirement.  So I'm very pleased to have Steve.  I think

 

        20     he's a good lawyer and will make a very valuable

 

        21     contribution to the legal work of this Board.

 

        22                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  We're all pleased to have

 

        23     you on board, Steve.  Welcome, and we all look forward to

 

        24     working with you.  And, again, this is just one more

 

 

 

 

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         1     indicator of the Board's need to expand our staff because

 

         2     of the increased workload, so I know we have plenty for

 

         3     you to do.

 

         4                 Next we -- I do need a motion or a discussion

 

         5     about our continuation of our contract with the Attorney

 

         6     General's office.

 

         7                 MR. LESSLY:  The only change in that contract

 

         8     is the difference in the hourly rate, and I think the new

 

         9     hourly rate simply incorporates the travel expenses.  I

 

        10     would recommend that you authorize the signing of that

 

        11     contract.

 

        12                 MS. KIRCH:  So moved.

 

        13                 DR. BAEPLER:  Second.

 

        14                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

        15     second.  All in favor?

 

        16                 (Ayes.)

 

        17                 Opposed?

 

        18                 The chair votes in favor, and the motion

 

        19     carries, so that contract will be continued.

 

        20                 Moving on, then, Agenda Item No. 4 is

 

        21     consideration of continuation of our contract with the

 

        22     Nevada Broadcasters Association, and I think you have

 

        23     some information on that under tab 4 about the costs.

 

        24                 MR. LESSLY:  I had asked Mr. Fisher from the

 

 

 

 

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         1     Nevada Broadcasters Association to be here, and I

 

         2     understand his mother passed away and he was unable to be

 

         3     present.  We wanted to discuss with him increased

 

         4     coverage for us and the production of some additional

 

         5     spots if we were going to go forward with that contract

 

         6     and have a general discussion with him about the nature

 

         7     of the contract and relationship.

 

         8                 In view of the fact that he's not here, I

 

         9     would suggest we simply delay this discussion until the

 

        10     December meeting, and I would suggest we go ahead and

 

        11     authorize the contract for the next three months to cover

 

        12     the time until that meeting.

 

        13                 DR. BAEPLER:  Can you answer one question

 

        14     just to clarify?  If you look at the Agenda Item No. 4,

 

        15     the handout, how is that dollar return calculated? 

 

        16     That's confusing.

 

        17                 MR. LESSLY:  It's arbitrary.  They put a

 

        18     value on it.

 

        19                 DR. BAEPLER:  This would be the equivalent

 

        20     cost if we had to pay for all the spots?

 

        21                 MR. LESSLY:  It probably would cost us more,

 

        22     but he needs to tell you how that organization -- that's

 

        23     an internal thing that they do, and I don't think there's

 

        24     any standard.

 

 

 

 

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         1                 DR. BAEPLER:  Thank you.

 

         2                 MR. LESSLY:  I'd suggest you authorize me to

 

         3     continue the contract for the next three months and ask

 

         4     Mr. Fisher to be here at the December board meeting.

 

         5                 DR. JONES:  So moved.

 

         6                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

         7                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

         8     second to continue this agenda item until December.  All

 

         9     in favor? 

 

        10                 (Ayes.)

 

        11                 Opposed?

 

        12                 The chair votes in favor, motion carries.  So

 

        13     we'll talk with him in our December meeting.

 

        14                 Next, we have consideration of the amendments

 

        15     to the NAC Chapter 630, and I think Mr. Legarza and Tony

 

        16     Clark are going to talk to us about those.

 

        17                 MR. LEGARZA:  You've got -- under tab 5

 

        18     you've got the proposed new regulations.  Everything --

 

        19     everything that is in Sections 1 through 7 you have

 

        20     already adopted as temporary regulations prior to --

 

        21     during the last year and a half.

 

        22                 During the period of time that the

 

        23     Legislature is in session and for six months preceding

 

        24     that period of time and for some period of time after

 

 

 

 

                                     12

 


 

         1     they go out of session, the Legislative Counsel Bureau is

 

         2     unavailable to review regulations, so administrative

 

         3     agencies have to adopt temporary regulations during those

 

         4     periods of time, and then they have to adopt permanent

 

         5     regulations after the beginning -- the first of November

 

         6     of the year after the Legislature goes out of session

 

         7     because the LCB is unavailable to review them.

 

         8                 So everything in Sections 1 through 7 is

 

         9     stuff that you have already adopted that we have to

 

        10     readopt as permanent regulations under the law, and then

 

        11     Sections 8 and 9 are new proposed regulations, Section 8

 

        12     being the requirement -- and it's a requirement for all

 

        13     physicians -- to take four hours of CME in terrorism and

 

        14     weapons of mass destruction was Section 8, which was

 

        15     required by the Nevada State Legislature last session.

 

        16                 And then Section 9 is, the Legislature

 

        17     required that the Board encourage physicians who treat

 

        18     persons of the age of more than 60 years to take CMEs in

 

        19     geriatrics and gerontology, including such subjects --

 

        20     you don't have to require it, but you are required by the

 

        21     Legislature to encourage it.

 

        22                 So what we have proposed in Section 9 is that

 

        23     you encourage them by offering them double CME credit for

 

        24     up to doubling of four hours of attendance at those types

 

 

 

 

                                     13

 


 

         1     of CMEs where they would get eight hours of credit for

 

         2     four hours of attendance at those types of CMEs.

 

         3                 So the ones you need to really take a look at

 

         4     as to whether or not the manner that they're set out is

 

         5     how much credit you want to give under Section 9, how

 

         6     much you want to encourage them to get, and then Section

 

         7     8, I think that's mandatory.

 

         8                 DR. BAEPLER:  How much of all of this are we

 

         9     locked into by legislative action?

 

        10                 MR. LEGARZA:  All of it.

 

        11                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I'd like to emphasize that

 

        12     point because I think there is some misunderstanding from

 

        13     community physicians that this is something that the

 

        14     Board wanted and that the Board initiated.  I think we

 

        15     were caught as much off guard by this as the community

 

        16     physicians have been, but this is something that clearly

 

        17     was mandated by the Legislature in Section 8 that is a

 

        18     requirement for everyone, the four hours of CME regarding

 

        19     antiterrorism and so forth, and as Dick said, the

 

        20     gerontology units of CME can be recommended, not

 

        21     required, but this is not something that we initiated nor

 

        22     something we really supported, but nevertheless, this is

 

        23     something that is now required by our State Legislature,

 

        24     and so these regs simply reflect the requirement that -- 

 

 

 

 

                                     14

 


 

         1     this has already passed in the most recent legislative

 

         2     session, so I don't think we have much of an option.

 

         3                 DR. BAEPLER:  This is extremely unfortunate. 

 

         4     Take the antiterrorism.  The Department of Homeland

 

         5     Security is pouring already millions of dollars into this

 

         6     state and counties, and we've only seen the tip of the

 

         7     iceberg.  All that type of thing is obviously going to be

 

         8     richly embellished by this federal agency, and I hate to

 

         9     see this whole topic come up at this time because the

 

        10     issue of license portability is on the front burner, you

 

        11     know, of the national scene, and to the degree that this

 

        12     in any way weakens our standards, I think it is an

 

        13     unfortunate move, but if we are, in fact, locked in,

 

        14     there's not much we can do.

 

        15                 MR. LESSLY:  You're locked in on that one.

 

        16                 Tony drafted that regulation, which was

 

        17     pretty straightforward.  He also drafted the one on

 

        18     gerontology and did a little research on this.  This was

 

        19     his idea about double credit, so if you want to discuss

 

        20     any other options with respect to that reg, you need to

 

        21     talk with him.

 

        22                 DR. ANJUM:  Does this mean you need a new

 

        23     license or it would be --

 

        24                 MR. LESSLY:  It would be a requirement for

 

 

 

 

                                     15

 


 

         1     renewal.

 

         2                 DR. ANJUM:  Renewal.  When you renew the

 

         3     license, you need to add four hours of --

 

         4                 MR. LEGARZA:  One thing I need to explain to

 

         5     you, this is a one-time thing.  It isn't an annual thing,

 

         6     it isn't a biannual thing.  It's a one-time thing that

 

         7     all physicians have to do within a certain period of time

 

         8     that is set out in the legislation.

 

         9                 The proposed regulation makes these four

 

        10     hours an additional four hours over the 40 for the

 

        11     biennium.  In other words, I didn't think that I wanted

 

        12     to put in here, well, if you get those four hours, then

 

        13     you only need to get 36 because the regulations require

 

        14     40 hours of CME.  This is a one-time deal, so I just left

 

        15     the 40 hours alone.

 

        16                 Now, some doctors may take exception to that,

 

        17     that sometime in the next two years they're going to have

 

        18     to get a total of 44 hours of CME, but I didn't know

 

        19     really how to cleanly add this four hours on because it's

 

        20     not four hours every year, it's not four hours every

 

        21     other year, it's one time.

 

        22                 DR. BAEPLER:  But this is -- doubling the

 

        23     hours, then, would be irrelevant.

 

        24                 MR. LEGARZA:  That has nothing to do with the

 

 

 

 

                                     16

 


 

         1     terrorism.  That's the other one, that's the geriatrics

 

         2     one.

 

         3                 DR. BAEPLER:  But the geriatrics one is if

 

         4     you have a patient 60 years or older.

 

         5                 MR. LEGARZA:  Correct.  We're just

 

         6     encouraging you -- we're not requiring you to do it.  The

 

         7     legislation didn't say physicians had to take that.

 

         8                 MR. LESSLY:  It says you shall encourage

 

         9     them.

 

        10                 MR. LEGARZA:  How do you encourage them?

 

        11                 DR. BAEPLER:  Is that within the 40?

 

        12                 MR. LEGARZA:  Yes, that's within the 40. 

 

        13     Yes, that's within the 40, so if you had four hours there

 

        14     and you had four hours of terrorism, then you would only

 

        15     need a total of 36 hours more.

 

        16                 DR. ANJUM:  That's a good incentive.

 

        17                 MR. LEGARZA:  To balance out, yeah.

 

        18                 DR. TITUS:  Would you clarify, this having

 

        19     been -- as a current county health officer for Lyon

 

        20     County, I've already been involved quite a bit in

 

        21     instructing the firemen and taking classes myself since

 

        22     September 11th of 2001, and just looking at how -- will

 

        23     it cover those of us who, since that event, have already

 

        24     been extremely involved in this so that we don't have to

 

 

 

 

 

                                     17

 


 

         1     reinvent the wheel and yet take another four-hour class

 

         2     when we've been teaching classes?

 

         3                 MR. LEGARZA:  This requires four hours of AMA

 

         4     Category 1 CMEs.  I looked on the Internet and found one

 

         5     class that was given.

 

         6                 DR. TITUS:  One of the issues is the AMA -- I

 

         7     mean, the whole CME products aren't really geared towards

 

         8     acts of terrorism at this point.  It's been done through

 

         9     the federal government, the Homeland Security Act, our

 

        10     local fire departments, and so the physicians of us who

 

        11     are on the front line have already been thoroughly

 

        12     involved in it, but yet have not received any Category 1

 

        13     CME for it.  It's been something we've done because it's

 

        14     the right thing to do.

 

        15                 The federal government has given grants for

 

        16     it already, the Homeland Security Act, and it's not

 

        17     through the CME programs.  Typically, in my mind, the CME

 

        18     programs, the companies are out there to make money off

 

        19     of physicians and charge incredible fees for four hours,

 

        20     and something like this, with all due respect, the

 

        21     intention is good, but once again, it falls a little bit

 

        22     flat of what I think it's intended to do.

 

        23                 We as physicians need to be responsible

 

        24     and -- but it's not going to come through the CME program

 

 

 

 

                                     18

 


 

         1     where you sit down and have to pay big bucks for it, and,

 

         2     you know, I'm just feeling like it's missing the mark a

 

         3     little bit.

 

         4                 MR. LEGARZA:  One, you've got to get four

 

         5     hours.  Nobody has any choice; they've got to get them. 

 

         6     Two, if you can't get a Category 1 CME, then we need to

 

         7     put some other language in here that --

 

         8                 DR. TITUS:  That's what I'm looking at.

 

         9                 MR. LEGARZA:  You're not going to get out of

 

        10     getting the four hours.  If you're licensed in this

 

        11     state, you're going to have to get your four hours

 

 

        12     between now and October.

 

        13                 DR. TITUS:  What about those of us that have

 

        14     already got the four hours?

 

        15                 MR. CLARK:  You may be able to petition the

 

        16     Board to accept the courses that you've taken by

 

        17     furnishing some kind of a proof of what the course was.

 

        18                 DR. TITUS:  That's what I'm saying.  Can we

 

        19     modify this a little bit, because this is going to be

 

        20     hard to find that CME Category 1.

 

        21                 MR. LEGARZA:  You're going to have to have

 

        22     some minimum qualifications for what the people are

 

        23     learning.

 

        24                 DR. TITUS:  Right, I agree with that, but I

 

 

 

 

                                     19

 


 

         1     think if there's some wording that you could -- to send

 

         2     in, you know, a petition for acceptance of programs that

 

         3     have been, you know, recommended by the federal

 

         4     government or the Homeland Security or sponsored by some

 

         5     industry that's regulated, I think we need to look at --

 

         6                 DR. BAEPLER:  There's going to be a lot of

 

         7     that.

 

         8                 DR. TITUS:  Like No. 4, can we add to this? 

 

         9     Can we put a modification that you're available to

 

        10     petition or -- 

 

        11                 MR. LESSLY:  You can't modify it.  It's a

 

        12     statutory requirement that it has to include those

 

        13     things.

 

        14                 MR. LEGARZA:  We can modify the language of

 

        15     this regulation.  We can't -- everybody has to have it

 

        16     within the times that are set out, although -- has to

 

        17     have it -- if you've been licensed after October the 1st,

 

        18     you have to get it within two years of initial licensure,

 

        19     and everyone else has to get it by September 30, 2005,

 

        20     and it has to be four hours, and it has to be in these

 

        21     certain things that are in three.  That is in the

 

        22     statute.

 

        23                 What are the qualifications for this, who can

 

        24     teach it, who says this is a good course, that's a bad

 

 

 

 

                                     20

 


         1     course, this is a nothing course, this is a great course,

 

         2     whether it's AMA Category 1 or whatever it is, I suppose

 

         3     we would have to come up with some kind of a criteria.

 

         4                 DR. TITUS:  I think so if you're already

 

         5     saying there's only one course available.

 

         6                 MR. LEGARZA:  All I'm saying is that's all

 

         7     that I found.

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I think this is a new --

 

         9     just as we've seen a lot of federal government things

 

        10     coming out, this is new, and I think that over the next,

 

        11     probably, year you're going to see some courses coming

 

        12     out and that they will be available.  I think that it is

 

        13     a new requirement.  I don't think we have much of an

 

        14     option.

 

        15                 I think your comments, Robin, are very

 

        16     appropriate, but I don't think there's any way that you

 

        17     can say -- and I, too, have been involved in things with

 

        18     the community and with the university with antiterrorism

 

        19     education, but I think that to -- if we get too

 

        20     nonspecific with it, it's going to be -- the board office

 

        21     is going to be inundated with everybody sending in

 

        22     various things to petition to be different, and I think

 

        23     we need to be careful that we don't overload from that

 

        24     end of it, too.

 

 

 

 

                                     21

 


         1                 I suspect that we'll see the same kind of

 

         2     thing as when the ethics requirement went forward, and

 

         3     that is that there will be a lot of courses developed.

 

         4                 MR. CLARK:  One thing you might consider

 

         5     doing is looking at the course syllabus of the courses

 

         6     that you have taken and compare them to the requirements

 

         7     of the statute A through E, and I bet you'll find that

 

         8     all of those subjects are covered.  You should then

 

         9     submit the syllabus to the Board with the request that

 

        10     this be considered as equivalent to this four hours of

 

        11     training, and you certify, I took this training, here's

 

        12     the training I got, these are the subjects I covered,

 

        13     will you please consider this as meeting the requirement.

 

        14                 MR. LEGARZA:  Another thing, we're going to

 

        15     have public hearings on this.  We're going to have a

 

        16     public hearing in Reno, and we're going to have a public

 

        17     hearing in Las Vegas.  We may learn some ideas from

 

        18     people that may be attending those things as to how to

 

        19     define or get some definition or who does the approval or

 

        20     how you do the approval, whether it's AMA Category 1 or

 

        21     something else again.

 

        22                 DR. BAEPLER:  Can we defer this until after

 

        23     the public hearings?

 

        24                 MR. LEGARZA:  There's nothing magic about the

 

 

 

 

                                     22

 


         1     language until, one, after the LCB takes a look at it

 

         2     and, two, until you have your hearings, and then I come

 

         3     back to you and say, this is the input, this is the

 

         4     input, and these are the recommendations based upon the

 

         5     input that we have, and it may -- it may change.  I mean,

 

         6     you may change your minds between now and then.  You're

 

         7     not going to adopt it until December at the earliest, so

 

         8     who knows what's going to happen in the next three months

 

         9     with regard to your knowledge.  Maybe even more --

 

        10                 MR. LESSLY:  All you're doing here today is

 

        11     telling Dick to go to hearing on this.

 

        12                 MR. LEGARZA:  You're just approving me to go

 

        13     to public hearings and workshops, and then I have to come

 

        14     back to you to either adopt them or not adopt them in

 

        15     December.

 

        16                 DR. BAEPLER:  There's one point here I think

 

        17     we need to nail down.

 

        18                 Your reading of the language of the statute

 

        19     is that we would have the authority to give an

 

        20     equivalency of rather than CMEs?

 

        21                 MR. CLARK:  Yes, I believe that's true.

 

        22                 DR. BAEPLER:  That opens up a lot of options.

 

        23                 DR. LUBRITZ:  May I make a motion?

 

        24                 MR. GARCIA:  Mike Garcia down in Las Vegas. 

 

 

 

 

                                     23

 


         1     Just as an FYI, the Clark County Health Department put on

 

         2     a six-hour training program on this very subject at

 

         3     Sunrise Hospital three months ago.  I know I attended it

 

         4     and received nursing CEUs.  I'm not sure if there were

 

         5     CMEs, but the program was actually titled "For

 

         6     Physicians," so you might want to check with the health

 

         7     department.

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  That's a good suggestion. 

 

         9     Thank you, Mike.

 

        10                 And I do think there will be others that are

 

        11     going to come along, you know, very shortly.  I think

 

        12     that, you know, we're seeing more in the communities, and

 

        13     I think the communities have really come first with this

 

        14     and have responded first in providing training, and so I

 

        15     think at this point what we need, Dick, is just a motion

 

        16     to approve that you send these out for workshops or

 

        17     hearings to get feedback on these.

 

        18                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Motion.

 

        19                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

        20                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

        21     second to send the proposed revisions to the NAC 630 out

 

        22     for workshops.  All in favor? 

 

        23                 (Ayes.)

 

        24                 Opposed?

 

 

 

 

                                     24

 


         1                 Chair votes in favor as well.  The motion

 

         2     carries.

 

         3                 So we will bring this agenda item back up in

 

         4     December, and hopefully we'll have feedback from those

 

         5     hearings.  Have you set dates for those yet?

 

         6                 MR. LEGARZA:  Not yet.  I left it blank

 

         7     because I've got to check with the Legislative Counsel

 

         8     Bureau as to how long they're going to have to need them

 

         9     to look at them, and then I will check with the LCB in

 

        10     Las Vegas to get a room, but they're always very

 

        11     accommodating with respect to that, but it will be in

 

        12     plenty of time before the next board meeting, and I will

 

        13     notice it for the hearing of the Board at the December

 

        14     meeting, which I guess will be here.  I don't know.

 

        15                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Okay.  Thank you.

 

        16                 We'll move on, then, to Agenda Item No. 6,

 

        17     which is consideration of the request by Washoe Medical

 

        18     Center for approval of Practitioner of Respiratory Care

 

        19     training programs.

 

        20                 MR. LESSLY:  At present I'd recommend you

 

        21     simply take Agenda Item 6 and 7.  Staff has reviewed this

 

        22     and we recommend approval of those programs.

 

        23                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  We have a recommendation by

 

        24     staff to approve the program.  Is there a motion?

 

 

 

 

                                     25

 


         1                 DR. TITUS:  So moved.

 

         2                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Second.

 

         3                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

         4     second.  All in favor of approval? 

 

         5                 (Ayes.)

 

         6                 Opposed?

 

         7                 The chair votes in favor, and the

 

         8     Practitioner of Respiratory Care training program is

 

         9     approved.

 

        10                 MR. LESSLY:  Same recommendation on No. 7.

 

        11                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  This is a recommendation by

 

        12     Mountain View Hospital for approval of another

 

        13     Practitioner of Respiratory Care training program.

 

        14                 Is there a motion to approve?

 

        15                 DR. TITUS:  So moved.

 

        16                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

        17                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  All in favor?

 

        18                 (Ayes.)

 

        19                 The chair votes in favor as well, and the

 

        20     motion carries, so that program has been approved as

 

        21     well.

 

        22                 Agenda Item No. 8 is discussion of standards

 

        23     for Licensure By Endorsement.

 

        24                 Now, this is another legislative change that

 

 

 

 

                                     26

 


         1     was just -- just occurred in our last legislative

 

         2     session.  I'm going to have Dick kind of go over that for

 

         3     us, and then we need to have a discussion about it.

 

         4                 DR. BAEPLER:  Can I interject one thing?  I

 

         5     got this item confused with 5 when I spoke about license

 

         6     portability and standards and so on.  I thought we were

 

         7     considering this one, so those remarks that I made

 

         8     reference to 5 really relate to 8.

 

         9                 MR. LESSLY:  Let me make a comment before

 

        10     Dick starts in on that issue.

 

        11                 I have with me Lynette Krotke, who, as you

 

        12     all know, is the chief of the Licensing Division.  This

 

        13     licensure by endorsement legislation has made a

 

        14     significant impact on the workload.  I would tell you

 

        15     that if you think having a meeting on Thursday and Friday

 

        16     is bad, considering December, it might have to be

 

        17     Wednesday, Thursday and Friday because we already have 47

 

        18     full board applicants to be heard and seen, and we're

 

        19     about 45 days away from even closing out that agenda.

 

        20                 Of those, about 20 are applications for

 

        21     licensure by endorsement, so when Dick gets into this

 

        22     discussion about licensure by endorsement, you need to

 

        23     have Lynette tell you the nature of the kind of

 

        24     applicants you are going to be seeing in December.

 

 

 

 

                                     27

 


         1                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I think everybody got

 

         2     Dick's memo passed out separate here, and the first page

 

         3     of that really goes through what the legislation -- it

 

         4     was under SB332, and it really allows a lot of leeway for

 

         5     the Board and a lot of discretion in licensing, and I

 

         6     think that it also sets up some confusion as to what the

 

         7     requirements are for licensure, and I think those are

 

         8     some of the issues that Dick wants to address with us.

 

         9                 Do you want to start?

 

        10                 MR. LEGARZA:  Well, yeah.

 

        11                 The legislation, in my opinion, is bad

 

        12     legislation.  We were given little, if any, opportunity

 

        13     to comment on the proposed legislation in the last

 

        14     session.  The licensure by endorsement thing basically

 

        15     says you don't have to have any minimum qualifications to

 

        16     be licensed and/or you can require whatever you want to

 

        17     of anyone to give them a license, which I guess the net

 

        18     result of that, at least in my opinion, is that the whole

 

        19     thing seems rather ridiculous.

 

        20                 It's discretionary, totally discretionary. 

 

        21     The legislation says you may issue a license, and my

 

        22     question is -- and the memorandum, really, the tone of

 

        23     the memorandum is, why would you want to?  My

 

        24     recommendation is that you never issue a license by

 

 

 

 

                                     28

 


         1     endorsement.  You don't have to; I don't think that you

 

         2     should.

 

         3                 If you're going to be wanting to change your

 

         4     minimum qualifications for licensure, then that's what

 

         5     you should do.  By issuing a license by endorsement, you

 

         6     are admitting, I guess, that some of your minimum

 

         7     qualifications may or should not be applicable, should

 

         8     not be something that should be required of licensees. 

 

         9     Once you start issuing licenses by endorsement, you're

 

        10     establishing precedence.  Are you going to waive two

 

        11     months of the thirty-six months' progressive postgraduate

 

        12     this month, three months next month, a year?  Are you

 

        13     going to waive not taking specs?  What are you going to

 

        14     waive with regard to the minimum qualifications, and once

 

        15     you set that, are those then not your possible minimum

 

        16     qualifications?

 

        17                 I don't think you should go there.  I think

 

        18     it's bad.  If you go there, I think you would be causing

 

        19     yourselves multitude of problems, and you don't have to

 

        20     go there.  I mean .332 also set up a whole bunch of other

 

        21     things that gave the Board the ability to license state

 

        22     health officers, people working for the State of Nevada,

 

        23     administrative physicians, a whole bunch of things.  Now

 

        24     the Governor has the ability to declare an emergency

 

 

 

 

                                     29

 


         1     situation.

 

         2                 Licensure by endorsement, bad legislation.  I

 

         3     don't think you should go there.  I know that you have a

 

         4     lot of comments about, well, I don't want to take specs,

 

         5     specs isn't applicable to me.  Maybe -- you know, going

 

         6     out and talking about regulations, maybe you change that,

 

         7     if that's what you want to do.  Maybe, okay, Doctor, you

 

         8     don't want to take specs, then take a peer review.  But

 

         9     your minimum qualifications are set up both in law and in

 

        10     regulations.  If you want to change those or modify

 

        11     those, do that, but my advice to you as your general

 

        12     counsel is don't go here.

 

        13                 MR. LESSLY:  And my advice to you as your

 

        14     special counsel is the same as his.

 

        15                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  And I need to play devil's

 

        16     advocate a little bit, and I need to give you a little

 

        17     bit of background about what happened in this legislative

 

        18     session with this particular issue, and this, I believe,

 

        19     has come from the Governor's office, and part of it has

 

        20     to do with the fact that, if you remember, there have

 

        21     been a couple of occasions wherein -- the State Health

 

        22     Officer issue was one in which some of our requirements

 

        23     precluded this person from accepting that position.

 

        24                 I think that there are a few occasions where

 

 

 

 

                                     30

 


         1     this might be applicable, and, for example, I think that

 

         2     one of the criticisms has been that Nevada closes its

 

         3     doors to a lot of very qualified physicians who have

 

         4     board certification in their specialty, who have

 

         5     practiced in another state full-time for a number of

 

         6     years, who have been active in their specialty

 

         7     affiliation groups, maybe have been leaders on national

 

         8     boards in their specialties and so forth, but to come

 

         9     into Nevada, we have a requirement, if it's been over ten

 

        10     years, that they have to take specs.  Many of them don't

 

        11     want to take specs, and so it precludes them from coming.

 

        12                 I think we've had the discussion about the

 

        13     value of specs, but if you have a specialist in ENT or

 

        14     gastroenterology who's been practicing for 15 or 20 years

 

        15     in that particular specialty, to ask them to go back and

 

        16     take specs -- and I think in repeated appearances by

 

        17     physicians, when we've asked them how long it takes them

 

        18     to study and review for specs, the answer has been at

 

        19     least two months, and I think we have to ask ourselves,

 

        20     is that really valuable enough to preclude someone who

 

        21     may be a leader in their field.

 

        22                 And I know for a fact, because I've had phone

 

        23     calls about a couple of these that will come before us in

 

        24     December, that we have a few of those situations that are

 

 

 

 

                                     31

 


         1     asking for licensure by endorsement.  These are not

 

         2     people that have not met the criteria in other ways.  The

 

         3     specs exam seems to be the holdup, and I think that, too,

 

         4     we need to be a little careful as the Board here to shut

 

         5     the door on this because I think that this was a

 

         6     compromise in the Legislature, to say that there was a

 

         7     move at one point -- we were very concerned that the

 

         8     Legislature might mandate we decrease our requirements

 

         9     altogether and eliminate, for example, the three-year

 

        10     training requirement or some of the other things we have

 

        11     in place.  We were able to protect this, and in my mind,

 

        12     to have this license by endorsement seems sort of a

 

        13     minimum of compromise.  It does not say we have to do it. 

 

        14     It says that we can look at it and we can have someone

 

        15     appear before us and take their specific situation into

 

        16     account.

 

        17                 I agree with Dick's comments that it opens

 

        18     the door to a lot of people that I think we would likely

 

        19     say no to that don't meet criteria in other ways, but

 

        20     there are things that I think we could require, and this

 

        21     legislation says we can require anything of that

 

        22     applicant in addition if they have not met -- say they

 

        23     haven't taken specs.  We could ask them and say, well,

 

        24     you know, if you want licensure by endorsement, you have

 

 

 

 

                                     32

 


         1     a choice; you can take specs or we can submit you to a

 

         2     peer review in your specialty, and maybe that's an

 

         3     adequate way to assess for us that they're qualified.

 

         4                 MR. LESSLY:  You can do that by simply

 

         5     changing the reg, and that's Dick's point.  You change

 

         6     the reg that requires the specs exam to be a spec exams

 

         7     or a peer review exam approved by this Board, and you

 

         8     never get to the issue of licensure by endorsement.

 

         9                 That does seem to be -- you're right, that

 

        10     does seem to be the hangup.  People don't want to take

 

        11     specs.  Specs has become expensive.  It's $800 now to

 

        12     take the specs exam.  It's going to cost more than that

 

        13     for a doctor to come out here and have a peer review at

 

        14     his own expense, though.

 

        15                 MR. LEGARZA:  If the concern is specs, it is

 

        16     a regulation.  You can change the regulation.  You can

 

        17     change the regulation to require specs or a peer review. 

 

        18     You can do that.  That solves the problem that you're

 

        19     talking about, Doctor.

 

        20                 DR. MONTOYA:  Dick, that doesn't solve the

 

        21     problem.  We're married to this legislation.  This is law

 

        22     now.

 

        23                 MR. LEGARZA:  No, we are not married to that

 

        24     legislation.  It is totally discretionary.  It is whether

 

 

 

 

                                     33

 


         1     or not you want to do it.

 

         2                 DR. MONTOYA:  It is on the books.  It is

 

         3     discretionary.  We are going to have the discretion

 

         4     whether we want to use this or not.  We can change our

 

         5     regulations and we can get around using it another way,

 

         6     but this is still going to be there.

 

         7                 MR. LEGARZA:  Absolutely, absolutely, and my

 

         8     advice is don't.

 

         9                 DR. MONTOYA:  We can take that, but nothing

 

        10     is materially going to change what we do today.  This is

 

        11     here.

 

        12                 MR. LEGARZA:  But the concern that Cheryl's

 

        13     addressing is -- and we hear it all the time -- I don't

 

        14     want to take specs, I'm a radiologist, I'm a pathologist,

 

        15     I don't want to -- I'm good in my field, da-da-da-da-da. 

 

        16     Fine.  If you change the regulation and say, you can take

 

        17     specs or you can take a peer review, then you're around

 

        18     that; you're not giving up your 36 months' progressive

 

        19     postgraduate education, you're not giving up anything.

 

        20                 Under the license by endorsement, you can

 

        21     give a license -- in my opinion, a DO and an HMD can

 

        22     apply for a license as an MD in the state of Nevada under

 

        23     the license by endorsement.

 

        24                 DR. MONTOYA:  We still can because the

 

 

 

 

                                     34

 


         1     legislation is there.  There's nothing this Board can do. 

 

         2     We can change a regulation and make it easier for us to

 

         3     give them the license by peer review, a regular license

 

         4     by peer review or by specs.

 

         5                 MR. LEGARZA:  Correct.

 

         6                 DR. MONTOYA:  We can go change the

 

         7     legislation, but everything else, we are married to this. 

 

         8     We don't have to use it.

 

         9                 MR. LEGARZA:  We're not married to it.

 

        10                 DR. ANJUM:  We can't ignore it completely.

 

        11                 MS. KIRCH:  I don't think we can ignore it,

 

        12     so anyone that wants to apply for a license could apply

 

        13     under statute whatever, and we're going to have to look

 

        14     at it.

 

        15                 MR. LESSLY:  And we are sending out

 

        16     applications by the dozens.  Let Lynette tell you

 

        17     something about what kind of applicants you've got as a

 

        18     result of this legislation.

 

        19                 MS. KROTKE:  Well, Larry's right.  The

 

        20     applications are flying out the door at this point, and

 

        21     they're also coming right back.

 

        22                 Some of the things we're looking at I'll just

 

        23     briefly go over.  Some of the things you're going to see

 

        24     in December.  We have a 61-year-old physician applying

 

 

 

 

                                     35

 


         1     for licensure by endorsement.  He has one year of

 

         2     postgraduate education that cannot be verified due to the

 

         3     closure of his school, and he has two malpractice

 

         4     settlements.

 

         5                 We have a 70-year-old applying for licensure

 

         6     by endorsement.  He has taken and failed specs four

 

         7     times.  He has five years' postgraduate education, but

 

         8     three of the five cannot be verified.  He has not

 

         9     practiced since 9 of 2000, and he's in a hurry to get a

 

        10     license.

 

        11                 These are just all kinds of --

 

        12                 DR. BAEPLER:  We could reject those

 

        13     applications.

 

        14                 MS. KROTKE:  You can, but you've also got

 

        15     qualified people in here, too.

 

        16                 You know, we've got a 55-year-old

 

        17     board-certified urologist who was board certified in

 

        18     1980, he's got an awesome education.  He was sued for

 

        19     malpractice, but he doesn't want to take specs, so

 

        20     that's --

 

        21                 DR. ANJUM:  It's our selection to select

 

        22     those or reject those.

 

        23                 MS. KROTKE:  We have a 70-year-old physician

 

        24     whose licensed in Massachusetts.  He went to school in

 

 

 

 

                                     36

 


         1     London.  He was board certified in internal medicine and

 

         2     gastroenterology -- in gastro, and he doesn't want to

 

         3     take specs.

 

         4                 We have a 54-year-old pain management person

 

         5     who's licensed in Hawaii and Arizona.  He answered eight

 

         6     affirmative answers on his application.  He's addicted to

 

         7     Fentanyl.  He had a board action in Arizona.  They took

 

         8     away his license.  He went in and out of treatment, and

 

         9     he was given his license back in Arizona, and he wants to

 

        10     manage people with drug problems.  Okay.

 

        11                 A 50-year-old board-certified in internal

 

        12     medicine in '86, went to school in Mexico and Santo

 

        13     Domingo, has three malpractice cases, 12,000, 60,000 and

 

        14     110,000, and two pending malpractice cases, and a Florida

 

        15     Board letter of caution.

 

        16                 These are all things that are coming at you.

 

        17                 DR. BAEPLER:  I don't connect it up with our

 

        18     problem, because since this is discretionary, I would

 

        19     assume that there isn't a single example that you've

 

        20     cited that we would grant a license to.

 

        21                 MS. KROTKE:  Right, but I'm just saying, you

 

        22     know, the amount of people that are applying right now,

 

        23     this is what we're getting.

 

        24                 MR. LESSLY:  And the number of appearances

 

 

 

 

                                     37

 


         1     you're going to have.

 

         2                 DR. ANJUM:  It will raise our workload,

 

         3     that's very well accepted, but we can't shut this motion

 

         4     of legislation --

 

         5                 MR. LEGARZA:  If the word gets out that

 

         6     you're not granting these licenses, they'll slow down.

 

         7                 DR. ANJUM:  If we don't follow this, they may

 

         8     make it mandatory next time.  The Governor is after it

 

         9     and the Legislature is after it.

 

        10                 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  We cannot hear.

 

        11                 DR. ANJUM:  If we don't adopt this and follow

 

        12     this, the Legislature may make it mandatory next time,

 

        13     which is not mandatory this time, so we can't totally

 

        14     ignore it and --

 

        15                 MR. LESSLY:  I think you let the Legislature

 

        16     make it mandatory and take the heat for it.

 

        17                 DR. ANJUM:  I think it's our job -- anybody

 

        18     who applies for a license, we have to look at the

 

        19     application anyway.  Whether they are a good physician, a

 

        20     bad physician, that's our job to review, and it will just

 

        21     increase our workload.  That's what you're doing, you

 

        22     know.

 

        23                 DR. LUBRITZ:  I agree with Steve totally.  I

 

        24     think we're married to it, and if we're not married to it

 

 

 

 

                                     38

 


         1     today, in two years we may be more married to it if it's

 

         2     not there.  They've given us a perfect example of what

 

         3     occurs at times of -- when things are legislated because

 

         4     they would rather mandate it, and this, I'm going to

 

         5     assume, was mandated, but they gave us a wonderful

 

         6     option, and that is the word "may."

 

         7                 So if anyone applies for a license, do we not

 

         8     send them an application?  So there's no difference

 

         9     between what's happening now except we're getting more. 

 

        10     We'll find a way, I think, of being able to screen the

 

        11     ones that we see because we may set up some criteria

 

        12     under the mays.  "May" gives us a wonderful opportunity. 

 

        13     It's going to increase everyone's workload, but I would

 

        14     really hate next Legislature for them to say, aha, this

 

        15     is exactly what we were talking about, so, therefore, now

 

        16     there's no may, it's must.  So I see it as a reasonably

 

        17     good thing to have, given that we have a mandate.

 

        18                 DR. TITUS:  Can you clarify for me, in the

 

        19     past, if somebody wanted an application that was not

 

        20     qualified, you did not have to send them one; is that not

 

        21     correct? 

 

        22                 MS. KROTKE:  We did not send an application.

 

        23                 DR. TITUS:  The bottom line for us is now you

 

        24     are going to -- you're having requests for applications. 

 

 

 

 

                                     39

 


         1     In the past you could use your discretion if they did not

 

         2     meet the criteria and not send them an application.

 

         3                 So what we're looking at -- the only thing

 

         4     we're looking at here is an increase in our workload

 

         5     because we are forced now to look at these applicants,

 

         6     and we can do as we choose, and we would hope that we

 

         7     have enough knowledge, the people on this Board, to bring

 

         8     enough insight into this and we are not going to award

 

         9     people who are otherwise a danger to the citizens of

 

        10     Nevada a license to practice medicine.

 

        11                 We would hope that we would look at these on

 

        12     an individual case, but it will increase our load, as

 

        13     Dick was saying.  We may have to meet for three days now

 

        14     because we're going to be forced to look at these

 

        15     applications, and that's the bottom line.

 

        16                 DR. ANJUM:  How many states do accept

 

        17     licenses by endorsement?

 

        18                 MR. LESSLY:  Some do.

 

        19                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Actually, Tony gave me a

 

        20     list of all, and I think I brought it with me.  There are

 

        21     a lot of states that do specific, oh, professorship

 

        22     license or different licenses that may not meet their

 

        23     absolute criteria.

 

        24                 I think this is the bottom line with this,

 

 

 

 

                                     40

 


         1     and I really agree with all of your comments, that this

 

         2     is legislation, and it does say, "may," it does not say,

 

         3     "must."  It gives this Board the discretion, and I really

 

         4     trust the judgment of this Board.  I think that it does

 

         5     mean that we're going to have to review more

 

         6     applications, but my guess is that that probably will

 

         7     happen maybe the first couple of meetings, and that then,

 

         8     when people figure out that, you know, there's some basic

 

         9     standards here, that we're not just going to grant

 

        10     anybody a license just because, that that will fall off.

 

        11                 I don't think that we're going to get 50, you

 

        12     know, applications each meeting.  I think, Lynette, you

 

        13     said right now we have 19 that would be licensures by

 

        14     endorsement for December, but I think it's sort of a

 

        15     similar thing that we saw  with the respiratory

 

        16     therapists.  Initially it was a lot of workload for a

 

        17     couple of meetings, and now that's kind of balanced out.

 

        18                 I think that probably we will do very few of

 

        19     these, and I think Dick's comments about the fact that we

 

        20     need to consider and be consistent in our own standards

 

        21     of what we do grant licensure by endorsement for is very

 

        22     valid, but I think there are a select few circumstances

 

        23     where we might use this, and I think that it gives us an

 

        24     opportunity to use our judgment and our discretion in

 

 

 

 

                                     41

 


         1     those very few situations where I think it makes sense.

 

         2                 DR. MONTOYA:  At the same time, we can still

 

         3     revisit that regulation with peer review.

 

         4                 MR. LESSLY:  Now is the time to tell Dick to

 

         5     add that to the hearing, and I gather what we're talking

 

         6     about here is you will take the specs exam or you will

 

         7     pass a peer review in your specialty.

 

         8                 DR. BAEPLER:  Or an alternative that the

 

         9     Board would recommend.

 

        10                 DR. LUBRITZ:  See, I don't want to limit it

 

        11     to -- I would prefer not to limit it to those two

 

        12     alternatives because we have a host of others that we

 

        13     haven't even explored at this point, so I would hate to

 

        14     limit it to two.  I would like to put "or another

 

        15     alternative appropriate with the Board."

 

        16                 MR. LESSLY:  Why don't you just do the reg

 

        17     and either take the specs exam or another approved

 

        18     examination approved by the Board, period.

 

        19                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  And understand we're

 

        20     talking about two separate issues here, because if we're

 

        21     changing that regulation, that's changing the requirement

 

        22     for a regular license, not licensure by endorsement.

 

        23                 MR. LESSLY:  Which will impact on this

 

        24     endorsement problem.

 

 

 

 

                                     42

 


         1                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  But it will make a

 

         2     difference, I think, in the number that we will get

 

         3     applying for licensure by endorsement if there's another

 

         4     option in addition to specs that they could take, and

 

         5     they would then prefer to just get a regular license

 

         6     because it also is much easier on them.  Understand that

 

         7     it slows their process down for getting a license to do

 

         8     this because it means they have to appear before the

 

         9     Board, and then we have to make a decision, and then it's

 

        10     going to take another month or so.  So it slows them down

 

        11     as well, so I think if we have that other option for our

 

        12     regular license, to say specs or another exam as approved

 

        13     by the Board, that might limit the numbers we get.

 

        14                 DR. LUBRITZ:  I would hate to even add

 

        15     another exam because that's also limiting what we can do,

 

        16     or other determinations.

 

        17                 DR. BAEPLER:  Other alternatives.

 

        18                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Other alternatives suggested or

 

        19     demanded by the Board.  That leaves you wide open.  It

 

        20     does not limit you at all.  I'm afraid of limiting us to

 

        21     one or two or three things.

 

        22                 DR. BAEPLER:  Let me give you one example

 

        23     here.  If we ever get to the competency proficiency

 

        24     recommendations -- and I think we're going to increase

 

 

 

 

                                     43

 


         1     that to about nine options from the old five -- one of

 

         2     them was that if you're board certified and not

 

         3     grandfathered and you get recertified, we can take a look

 

         4     at your board specialties; they're increasing regularly

 

         5     with these board recertification exams and often

 

         6     involving now peer reviews and so on.  We might consider

 

         7     that to be a perfect alternative to the specs.

 

         8                 I think a more important question is, let's

 

         9     take that health officer, for example.  I forget what the

 

        10     exact deficiency was, why he could not get a license, but

 

        11     from a legal perspective, if you have a person that you

 

        12     grant a license by exception, and then at the next board

 

        13     meeting or one after you have another one that is in the

 

        14     identical circumstances by virtue of their background, do

 

        15     you feel legally comfortable granting one the license and

 

        16     not the other?

 

        17                 MR. LEGARZA:  Absolutely not.

 

        18                 MR. LESSLY:  The issue here is what Don has

 

        19     just said, proof of competency.  That's why you have the

 

        20     specs exam administered on initial licensure.  So if you

 

        21     write the reg and draft the reg to say you take the specs

 

        22     exam or provide other proof of competency acceptable to

 

        23     the Board, you've covered the issue.

 

        24                 DR. BAEPLER:  I don't think we'd allow many

 

 

 

 

                                     44

 


         1     in, but every time we did allow someone in, we'd be

 

         2     essentially saying anybody else that is in this same

 

         3     circumstance is going to be permitted in.

 

         4                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Could you say that again?

 

         5                 MR. LESSLY:  You either take the specs exam

 

 

         6     or you provide such other proof of competency acceptable

 

         7     to the Board.

 

         8                  DR. BAEPLER:  That's not a bad thing,

 

         9     though, because if we base these things as an uncommon

 

        10     exception and for valid reasons, we probably ought to

 

        11     grant a license to the next person under identical

 

        12     circumstances.

 

        13                 DR. LUBRITZ:  That would, I assume, take in

 

        14     those new types of examinations that will be coming up,

 

        15     be it specs or whatever else may come up in the way of

 

        16     modules or --

 

        17                 MR. LESSLY:  It's unfortunate that the

 

        18     modules have not been fully developed by the federation

 

        19     to cover the specialties, but you could use that when

 

        20     they came.

 

        21                 DR. LUBRITZ:  So --

 

        22                 MR. LESSLY:  I would think if you drafted it

 

        23     that way, you could do anything you want to.

 

        24                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Say it exactly as you want

 

 

 

 

                                     45

 


         1     to --

 

         2                 MR. LESSLY:  Pass the specs exam or provide

 

         3     such other proof of competency as acceptable to the

 

         4     Board.

 

         5                 DR. ANWAR:  That sounds good.

 

         6                 DR. ANJUM:  It's exactly what we would do

 

         7     anyway.

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  So I think we need to, if

 

         9     that's the feeling of the Board, maybe instruct Dick to

 

        10     include that in the last agenda item that we approve to

 

        11     take to hearings on proposed changes in regulations.

 

        12                 Is everybody okay with that?  We need a

 

        13     motion.

 

        14                 DR. BAEPLER:  I would so move.

 

        15                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Second.

 

        16                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There is a motion, then, to

 

        17     include and, again, to modify the regulation of taking

 

        18     specs or --

 

        19                 MR. LESSLY:  By proof of competency as

 

        20     acceptable to the Board.

 

        21                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  As acceptable by the Board.

 

        22                 DR. LUBRITZ:  That's reasonable.

 

        23                 MR. LESSLY:  Look at it on a case-by-case

 

        24     basis in that situation.

 

 

 

 

                                     46

 


         1                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  All in favor?

 

         2                 (Ayes.)

 

         3                 Opposed? 

 

         4                 DR. LUBRITZ:  You know what?  Would it be a

 

         5     good idea to add, "and will be looked at on a

 

         6     case-by-case basis"?  Is that acceptable, unacceptable?

 

         7                 MR. LESSLY:  There's the drafter.

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  We'll work on that

 

         9     language.

 

        10                 The motion carries, and so we'll have

 

        11     feedback on that as well in December.

 

        12                 MR. LESSLY:  There's one other matter under

 

        13     No. 8, application fees for licensure by endorsement and

 

        14     administrative physician license fees need to be set.

 

        15                 I would recommend that you leave the

 

        16     application fee for administrative physician license at

 

        17     $400.  I recommend that you increase the application fee

 

        18     for licensure by endorsement from 400 to $600.  This

 

        19     takes a tremendous amount of additional time to process

 

        20     those applications, and every last one of them is a full

 

        21     board appearance.

 

        22                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Eight hundred.

 

        23                 MR. LESSLY:  Six hundred is sufficient.

 

        24                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I think it's reasonable. 

 

 

 

 

                                     47

 


         1     In talking to Lynette and learning what they really are

 

         2     having to do, you know, with her staffing, really

 

         3     verifying credentials, and it's a lot more work than just

 

         4     the routine application, so I think that additional $200

 

         5     is reasonable.

 

         6                 MS. KIRCH:  I so move.

 

         7                 DR. BAEPLER:  Second.

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Motion and second to raise

 

         9     the cost of licensure by endorsement from 400 to $600

 

        10     biennium.  All in favor?

 

        11                 (Ayes.)

 

        12                 Opposed?

 

        13                 The chair votes in favor and the motion

 

        14     carries.

 

        15                 MR. LESSLY:  And set the fee for the

 

        16     administrative license at 400.  That was in the motion.

 

        17                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  That was in the motion.

 

        18                 We're going to skip Agenda Item No. 9 for now

 

        19     and go on to Agenda Item No. 10, our reports, and the

 

        20     first up on that is our diversion program, and we have

 

        21     Carol Bowers here to tell us about that.

 

        22                 MS. BOWERS:  Since the last board meeting in

 

        23     May, we've added two new physicians to the program.  One

 

        24     is still in treatment at Talbot Recovery Center in

 

 

 

 

                                     48

 


         1     Atlanta.  We've had three participants complete their

 

         2     contract, and we had another respiratory therapist pass

 

         3     away from chronic severe (inaudible) --

 

         4                 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Excuse me.  We can't

 

         5     hear the speaker.

 

         6                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you.

 

         7                 MS. BOWERS:  Can you hear me now?

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Go ahead and start over,

 

         9     Carol.

 

        10                 MS. BOWERS:  Since the last board meeting in

 

        11     May, we've added two new physicians.  One remains in

 

        12     recovery at Talbot Recovery in Atlanta.  We've had three

 

        13     participants complete their monitoring contract, and we

 

        14     had another respiratory therapist pass away from severe

 

        15     liver damage due to his disease.

 

        16                 So that makes two deaths of respiratory

 

        17     therapists who were in the diversion program, and it

 

        18     really made an impact on the group of respiratory

 

        19     therapists that I deal with because they were -- one was

 

        20     pretty sudden death, and the other one, every week we

 

        21     watched him slowly die.  So that little group of

 

        22     respiratory therapists is doing very well.  They're very

 

        23     committed to their recovery, and I enjoy doing work with

 

        24     them.

 

 

 

 

                                     49

 


         1                 The foundation continues to give

 

         2     presentations to various hospitals.  Dr. Belcourt is

 

         3     presenting at Saint Mary's in September, Dr. Ruekel at

 

         4     Sunrise in September, and Dr. Ruekel speaks on the

 

         5     disruptive physician.  I will be speaking at Mountain

 

         6     View in October.

 

         7                 I'm very grateful that the medical board

 

         8     increased our funding because we did not receive any

 

         9     money this year from the hospital association.  I did

 

        10     call Alan Stipes, and I found out there was a severe car

 

        11     accident and several of the hospital association people

 

        12     were badly injured and one was killed, so Alan's going to

 

        13     check on the funding to see if the hospitals have

 

        14     continued to do that, and I'm going to call some of the

 

        15     ones that have donated in the past and see if they care

 

        16     to donate again.

 

        17                 I think I said the last time that we put a

 

        18     new point system in for monitoring our participants, and

 

        19     everything that they did gave them certain points, and

 

        20     they needed 500 points in order to complete their

 

        21     contract.  It actually is going very well.  I've had very

 

        22     few complaints, which is surprising from physicians who

 

        23     now are required to do even more work than they were

 

        24     before, but they seem actually pleased to have a more

 

 

 

 

                                     50

 


         1     subjective way to monitor them as opposed to -- I mean,

 

         2     an objective way as opposed to subjective.

 

         3                 One thing that has surprised me tremendously,

 

         4     last time I changed the format of what I wrote in the

 

         5     newsletter, and I put in -- I had a physician write a

 

         6     personal story, and the first time I did that, I got a

 

         7     thousand dollars donation as a result of that one story. 

 

         8     So this last time I did another story, personal story.  I

 

         9     have received -- yesterday was the fifth referral as a

 

        10     direct result of that newsletter because they said it was

 

        11     so -- made it feel so real and so personal, and I know a

 

        12     doctor that needs your help, and I got calls from two

 

        13     wives who read this who were so grateful to have

 

        14     something so meaningful in the newsletter.

 

        15                 I mean, I have been blown away by that, so I

 

        16     think changing that format has in fact made this more

 

        17     real, at least to some people.  I mean, I can lecture on

 

        18     addiction from now until the cows come home, but when you

 

        19     read something and it's actually happened to a person and

 

        20     actually happened to a physician in the state, it makes

 

        21     it more real, so I'm very pleased with that part of it.

 

        22                 The foundation continues to make progress via

 

        23     serving the needs of the physician in the state of

 

        24     Nevada, and I, of course, continue to look forward to

 

 

 

 

                                     51

 


         1     being in this position, and the finances seem to be in

 

         2     order.  I don't have any problems.  We have usually 45 to

 

         3     $50,000 in the checkbook, which is a miracle compared to

 

         4     what it was a few years ago.

 

         5                 So any questions, I will try and answer them.

 

         6                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Does anybody have any

 

         7     questions for Carol?

 

         8                 Well, thank you for that report, and it

 

         9     sounds like things are going well.

 

        10                 MS. BOWERS:  Thank you.

 

        11                 MR. LEGARZA:  I have one comment, if I may.

 

        12                 Every time I call Carol when I think there's

 

        13     a problem, she's on top of it, she takes care of it, and

 

        14     if it isn't taken care of in a manner that she believes

 

        15     or we believe or the investigative committee believes it

 

        16     should be taken care of, it is taken care of in the long

 

        17     run, and she doesn't ignore us at all, and when we have a

 

        18     problem we tell her about it, and she's right on.

 

        19                 MS. BOWERS:  Thank you.

 

        20                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I would agree with that.  I

 

        21     think you're doing a great job, and we all appreciate the

 

        22     effort and the hard work you do.  So thank you.

 

        23                 MS. BOWERS:  Thank you very much.

 

        24                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  John, why don't you come up

 

 

 

 

                                     52

 


         1     and give us the Physician Assistant Advisory Committee

 

         2     report.

 

         3                 MR. LANZILLOTTA:  First of all, excuse me,

 

         4     I've got laryngitis.  I'd like to commend Carol on that. 

 

         5     That was a great article, and working in the field now,

 

         6     it's just amazing the work that she's doing.

 

         7                 The Board received the resignation of Brian

 

         8     Loff.  He was appointed by the Board in March of 2002,

 

         9     and as a replacement I would like the Board to consider

 

        10     the nomination of Daniel Hickey.  Dan has been a PA in

 

        11     Nevada for 20 years.  He works in dermatology right now. 

 

        12     He is a retired officer in the Air Force where he served

 

        13     in critical management and administrative physicians.

 

        14                 A longstanding member of the Nevada Academy

 

        15     for 20 years, he's done a lot to advance and guide our

 

        16     profession in the state.  He's served in the Nevada

 

        17     Academy as president and past president and is involved

 

        18     with the American Academy of Physician Assistants on a

 

        19     national level.  He's also a director for the Society of

 

        20     dermatologic PAs.

 

        21                 Dan brings years of experience as a

 

        22     clinician, administrator and leader in the PA profession,

 

        23     and I appreciate your consideration as a replacement. 

 

        24     I'll have to see Dr. Lubritz after this.

 

 

 

 

                                     53

 


         1                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you, John.  You know,

 

         2     we have some water for you in there.

 

         3                 Well, that certainly is quite a CV, and I

 

         4     would open it up for discussion for board members to

 

         5     consider.

 

         6                 DR. MONTOYA:  I move for his acceptance.

 

         7                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Second.

 

         8                 DR. MONTOYA:  I move for his acceptance as a

 

         9     new member.

 

        10                 DR. TITUS:  Discussion?

 

        11                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Yes, discussion.

 

        12                 DR. TITUS:  Along those same lines, though,

 

        13     it may be needed a separate motion to send Brian a letter

 

        14     of thanks.

 

        15                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I think we can do that.  I

 

        16     don't think we even need a motion for that, but I think

 

        17     we can send Brian a thank you for his time served.

 

        18                 MR. LANZILLOTTA:  Thank you.

 

        19                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  So there was a motion and a

 

        20     second to approve Daniel Hickey's appointment to the

 

        21     Physician Assistant Committee.  Any further discussion?

 

        22                 All in favor?

 

        23                 (Ayes.)

 

        24                 Opposed?

 

 

 

 

                                     54

 


         1                 Chair votes in favor of the motion and the

 

         2     motion carries.  Welcome.

 

         3                 MR. HICKEY:  Thank you very much.

 

         4                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Do you have any comments

 

         5     you'd like to make? 

 

         6                 MR. HICKEY:  Only that I've been here -- I've

 

         7     been in Nevada since 1982 and have been practicing as a

 

         8     civilian since 1990.  Every contact that I've had with

 

         9     this Board has been absolutely positive in support of

 

        10     members of my profession.  I hope that I can serve the

 

        11     Board as well as my profession as well as the Board has

 

        12     served it.

 

        13                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you very much.

 

        14                 Okay.  Next we have our Respiratory Care

 

        15     Advisory Committee, and Mike Garcia is in Las Vegas.

 

        16                 MR. GARCIA:  Our committee has no report for

 

        17     this meeting.  Thank you.

 

        18                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  That's short and to the

 

        19     point.  Thank you, Mike.

 

        20                 All right.  We now have our investigative

 

        21     committees, and, Dr. Baepler, why don't you talk first

 

        22     about your committee.

 

        23                 DR. BAEPLER:  My committee, which consists of

 

        24     Dr. Titus, Dr. Anjum and myself, met on August 22nd.  Of

 

 

 

 

                                     55

 


         1     the cases that we considered, we closed 52 of them, which

 

         2     would be distributed to you.  Of those 52, four of them

 

         3     were based on physicians' appearances.  Several cases we

 

         4     kept open for more information and for future appearances

 

         5     by physicians, but I recommend that you accept the

 

         6     closure of the 52 listed on this sheet.

 

         7                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you, Don.

 

         8                 And Dr. Lubritz.

 

         9                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Our committee consists of Steve

 

        10     Montoya, Marlene Kirch and myself.  We also have a few --

 

        11     we have a few which we have not closed.  We're needing

 

        12     more information.  We did close 66, and there are several

 

        13     that we still need information from, so I just want to

 

        14     thank the members for a lot of hard work and it was -- I

 

        15     enjoyed working with them.

 

        16                 DR. BAEPLER:  If I could make one comment.

 

        17                 You can tell from the numbers, creating that

 

        18     second committee was absolutely necessary, and I'm

 

        19     delighted we moved in that direction.

 

        20                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Absolutely.  And I again

 

        21     thank you to all the members who served on both those

 

        22     committees, and we will circulate the case closures

 

        23     around, and later I will ask for a motion to approve

 

        24     those, but, again, thank you for all your work.

 

 

 

 

                                     56

 


         1                 And then, Dr. Baepler, as your other hat, you

 

         2     are secretary/treasurer, so if you want to give us your

 

         3     report on that.

 

         4                 DR. BAEPLER:  The first item is the

 

         5     consideration of the board audit for the fiscal year just

 

         6     ended.

 

         7                 I met with the auditors this morning, three

 

         8     representatives of Solari & Sturmer, and the audit report

 

         9     is in your hands.  I might point out one significant

 

        10     difference from prior audits.  To bring our accounting

 

        11     standards up to the accepted norm today, we had to figure

 

        12     in the fixed assets, which are nonliquid assets such as

 

        13     furniture and computers and all of that, and they

 

        14     computed that for fiscal '03, and they compared fiscal

 

        15     03 with fiscal '02 and by including retroactively fixed

 

        16     nonliquid assets for both years.

 

        17                 The very last page, page 21, of the audit

 

        18     report gives you a good comparison between the two fiscal

 

        19     years.  I think the most important thing is that the

 

        20     Audit Committee was very pleased with the way that we

 

        21     managed fiscal control on the funds.  They did not have

 

        22     any recommendations for improvement nor did they find any

 

        23     fault with the figures and the procedures that they

 

        24     analyzed, so it was a short meeting.  So I'm very pleased

 

 

 

 

                                     57

 


         1     to recommend to you that you accept this audit report.

 

         2                 MR. LESSLY:  And instruct us to file it.

 

         3                 DR. BAEPLER:  And I would ask also, as part

 

         4     of that motion, that you instruct the Executive Director

 

         5     to use the established avenues and mechanisms to bring

 

         6     this to the appropriate state agencies that we report to.

 

         7                 DR. LUBRITZ:  So moved.

 

         8                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

         9                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There is a motion and a

 

        10     second to approve the audit.  All in favor?

 

        11                 (Ayes.)

 

        12                 Opposed?

 

        13                 Chair votes in favor and the motion carries.

 

        14                 DR. BAEPLER:  The second item is the approval

 

        15     of the budget for the fiscal year that started July 1,

 

        16     and I believe this has been distributed to you.  This can

 

        17     be very brief.

 

        18                 Let me just point out that on the balance

 

        19     sheet, which is page 1, you'll note that the fixed assets

 

        20     are figured in there for the first time under assets. 

 

        21     All of the other assets are liquid or liquid equivalents

 

        22     in that they're almost instantly equivalent or

 

        23     convertible to assets, and as usual, by some coincidence,

 

        24     the assets and the liabilities balance out to the penny.

 

 

 

 

                                     58

 


         1                 What we need to really address is page 2,

 

         2     which is the actual budget itself.  The first column of

 

         3     numbers is the expenditures -- it's almost irrelevant to

 

         4     the budget -- showing us where we are.  The important one

 

         5     is the second column, which is the actual budget, and

 

         6     then the third column shows you where we're over budget

 

         7     or under budget relative to receipts.

 

         8                 Very simply, remember that we get the

 

         9     majority of our fees every other year, and that's the

 

        10     majority of our revenue, and the fees we collect in that

 

        11     year carry us for two years, but we show our budgets on a

 

        12     fiscal year basis, so we're always going to alternate

 

        13     between a fat year, the year that revenues come in and we

 

 

        14     show a surplus, and if you look at it just in that

 

        15     context, that's when people say, my, you're too fat, you

 

        16     need to reduce fees, but the second year we always show a

 

        17     huge deficit because we don't collect that much revenue

 

        18     in the second year.

 

        19                 I had one of my budget people pencil out a

 

        20     biennial budget showing two years of receipts and two

 

        21     years of anticipated expenses, and it looks pretty good. 

 

        22     However, projecting out this budget for this coming year,

 

        23     there's absolutely no problem.  We have some

 

        24     extraordinary expenses and some duplicate salaries that

 

 

 

 

                                     59

 


         1     will not reoccur, but it assumes a present level of

 

         2     operation, and that's important to remember when we

 

         3     consider the possibility of opening up an office in Las

 

         4     Vegas.  This does not accommodate an office in Las Vegas,

 

         5     but that's a different agenda item which we can address

 

         6     when its time comes.

 

         7                 I feel comfortable with it, but it is really

 

         8     and in all probability a little bit short of meeting our

 

         9     expenses for the next fiscal year, and it is possible

 

        10     that we would have to reconsider an increase in fees,

 

        11     although I hope it would not come to that.  There's just

 

        12     too many unknowns.  This year we're great.

 

        13                 I recommend that you approve the budget. 

 

        14     There's nothing significant or new in this budget that

 

        15     has not been in previous budgets, and as a matter of

 

        16     fact, any increases in this budget are because of

 

        17     personnel items and so forth that you've already approved

 

        18     as a board.

 

        19                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you, Dr. Baepler. 

 

        20     Any discussion about the budget?

 

        21                 MR. GARCIA:  Dr. English, I have a question.

 

        22                 Mike Garcia.  Does the revenue in that budget

 

        23     include projected revenues from respiratory license

 

        24     renewals that will occur in fiscal '04?

 

 

 

 

                                     60

 


         1                 DR. BAEPLER:  It includes all projected

 

         2     license fees that will be collected from respiratory

 

         3     therapists, MDs, PAs, based on the historical record of

 

         4     what happens here.  Yes, all of that has been projected.

 

         5                 MS. GARCIA:  And I guess the further question

 

         6     would be, are the respiratories' specific renewal

 

         7     licensure fees based upon the minimum value that was set

 

         8     in the bill, counselor?

 

         9                 MR. LESSLY:  I can answer that.  The budget

 

        10     is based upon no increase.  The fees have not been set

 

        11     and will not be set until the December board meeting, so

 

 

        12     we are not -- so we will not be recommending that your

 

        13     fees go up.

 

        14                 MS. GARCIA:  Thank you, sir.  Thank you,

 

        15     Dr. Baepler.

 

        16                 DR. TITUS:  Could you clarify for me, in this

 

        17     budget under "Equipment Expense" and "Projected," have we

 

        18     budgeted for equipment so that we could do our own

 

        19     broadcasting from within our facility?

 

        20                 DR. BAEPLER:  That kind of ties into the

 

        21     question of the office in Las Vegas, and I don't know the

 

        22     answer to that.

 

        23                 MR. LESSLY:  No.

 

        24                 DR. BAEPLER:  No, they have not.

 

 

 

 

                                     61

 


         1                 DR. TITUS:  I was just looking under the

 

         2     difference in budget under equipment lease and just

 

         3     wondered if that's been factored in.

 

         4                 MR. GARCIA:  Excuse me.  We're having a hard

 

         5     time hearing the speaker.

 

         6                 DR. TITUS:  I'm just curious about whether or

 

         7     not we've budgeted for the expense of hosting our friends

 

         8     in Las Vegas in our future --

 

         9                 DR. BAEPLER:  The answer is no, but that

 

        10     would have to be done -- if we open an office in Las

 

        11     Vegas that would accommodate this kind of a function,

 

        12     that would be an expense related to opening a new office.

 

        13                 MR. LESSLY:  When we get to that agenda

 

        14     item -- and Tony has that project -- you'll see we can't

 

        15     come up with a figure until you make that decision.

 

        16                 DR. BAEPLER:  This is based on an as-is

 

        17     operation.

 

        18                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Any further questions?  If

 

        19     not, I need a motion to approve the budget.

 

        20                 DR. TITUS:  So moved.

 

        21                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

        22                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

        23     second to approve the budget for fiscal year 2003-2004. 

 

        24     Any further discussion?

 

 

 

 

                                     62

 


         1                 All in favor?

 

         2                 (Ayes.)

 

         3                 Opposed?

 

         4                 The chair votes in favor and the motion

 

         5     carries.

 

         6                 And, again, thank you, Don.

 

         7                 Has everybody has an opportunity to look at

 

         8     all the investigative committee cases, both committees

 

         9     have circulated each way?  Okay.  We're still going

 

        10     around.

 

        11                 I'll let that continue around, then, and

 

        12     we'll go on to Agenda Item No. 11, and that is our

 

        13     executive staff reports, and, Larry, do you want to start

 

        14     those off?

 

        15                 MR. LESSLY:  Under the consideration of

 

        16     request for staff attendance at educational meetings, I

 

        17     would point out to you the Citizens Advocacy Centers

 

        18     meeting on the 13th of November in D.C., which is

 

        19     primarily for public members, but for other members also,

 

        20     I think you all got individual mailings on that.  If you

 

        21     didn't, we have that information.  If you want to go, we

 

        22     need to know.

 

        23                 Requesting authority to send Tony Clark to

 

        24     Seattle for the Administrators in Medicine quarterly

 

 

 

 

                                     63

 


         1     meeting and the Federation Executive Management Seminar,

 

         2     and that is when, Tony, in September?

 

         3                 MR. CLARK:  14th, 15th, 16th of September.

 

         4                 MR. LESSLY:  And I'm requesting that you send

 

         5     me to the Medem meeting on the 9th and 10th of October in

 

         6     San Francisco.  That's the meeting on Internet

 

         7     prescribing and treatment, and I went to that last year,

 

         8     and I'm on that steering committee, and we need to send

 

         9     Trent to the investigators workshop, so I need a motion

 

        10     on those three.

 

        11                 DR. LUBRITZ:  So moved.

 

        12                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

        13                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There is a motion and a

 

        14     second to approve sending staff to various educational

 

        15     meetings.  Any further discussion?

 

        16                 All in favor? 

 

        17                 (Ayes.)

 

        18                 Opposed?

 

        19                 Chair votes in favor of the motion, and the

 

        20     motion carries.

 

        21                 MR. LESSLY:  And then the Federation is

 

        22     having a board member workshop in Las Vegas on the 15th

 

        23     of November on impaired physicians.  I would encourage

 

        24     those of you who wish to go to let us know so we can get

 

 

 

 

                                     64

 


         1     you registered for that.

 

         2                 DR. LUBRITZ:  When is that?

 

         3                 MR. LESSLY:  That is the 15th of November in

 

         4     Las Vegas.  There is continuing medical education credit

 

         5     available for attending that.

 

         6                 DR. TITUS:  Is it a repeat of the one they

 

         7     presented last year, which was a very good one, but we

 

         8     did attend it, the impaired physician?

 

         9                 MR. LESSLY:  It's on impaired physicians

 

        10     again.  I don't know that it will be the same thing, but

 

        11     it is on the same topic.

 

        12                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Would you check on the agenda

 

        13     for us ?

 

        14                 DR. TITUS:  It's a very good workshop, but if

 

        15     they're going to use that same formula, it would seem a

 

        16     little bit of duplication.

 

        17                 MR. LESSLY:  I'll get that for you, and those

 

        18     of you who want to go, let me know.

 

        19                 And those are the only travel requests I

 

        20     have.  Under the 2003-2005 biennial registration

 

        21     statistics, as of yesterday, the 3rd of September, we

 

        22     have 4,375 active M.D.s licensed; we have 897 inactive; 

 

        23     we have a total of 255 Physician Assistants; we have a

 

        24     total of 871 Practitioners of Respiratory Care; and we

 

 

 

 

                                     65

 


         1     have a total of 174 limited license resident physicians.

 

         2                 DR. BAEPLER:  Larry, off the top of your

 

         3     head, does this show an increase or a decrease from a

 

         4     year ago?

 

         5                 MR. LESSLY:  A little increase, not much.  It

 

         6     shows a pretty significant increase in the number of

 

         7     Licensed Respiratory Care Practitioners, but that's as of

 

         8     yesterday, and registration has been completed, and

 

         9     everyone who was put out of business has been restored to

 

        10     business, and Dick handled all of that, so these should

 

        11     be the stable figures for the balancing of this biennium.

 

        12                 Under status of staff additions and changes,

 

        13     I've told you about Mr. Quinn coming on Board.  Dick has

 

        14     added two people that you met this morning back in his

 

        15     section.  I'm going to, I think, be requesting of the

 

        16     president between meetings authority to hire another

 

        17     investigator and another Licensing Specialist.  The

 

        18     president has the authority to act for the Board between

 

        19     meetings in those types of matters, and I'm not certain

 

        20     I'm there yet, but I'm pretty certain I will be before we

 

        21     meet in December.  So I will be asking Cheryl for

 

        22     authority to make those hires.

 

        23                 I think you've been handed out a copy of the

 

        24     organizational manual and job description changes.  Is

 

 

 

 

                                     66

 


         1     that correct, Maureen?

 

         2                 MS. LYONS:  I didn't hand them out yet.

 

         3                 MR. LESSLY:  They're coming.  Why don't we

 

         4     wait just a moment until you have those in front of you.

 

         5                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  While we have just a

 

         6     moment, can I ask for a motion on the investigative

 

         7     committee approval of the cases closed?

 

         8                 DR. TITUS:  Motion made on A and B.

 

         9                 DR. JONES:  Second.

 

        10                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

        11     second to approve the investigative committees reports on

 

        12     cases closed.  All in favor?

 

        13                 (Ayes.)

 

        14                 Opposed?

 

        15                 Chair votes in favor of the motion, motion

 

        16     carried. 

 

        17                 MR. LESSLY:  Has everyone seen that?  The

 

        18     organizational chart changes reflect the addition of the

 

        19     Deputy Executive Secretary/Special Counsel, reflect the

 

        20     addition of a Deputy General Counsel, remove the

 

        21     Financial Support Assistant under the Executive

 

        22     Secretary.  That is the replacement for Mr. Frantz. 

 

        23     Remember, he was the Financial Manager.  That position

 

        24     now will become a Financial Support Assistant because

 

 

 

 

                                     67

 


         1     there's not going to be very much financial management

 

         2     occurring since we're going to spend our reserve funds.

 

         3                 And the Chief Licensing Specialist, the three

 

         4     Licensing Specialists, and over under the General

 

         5     Counsel's office, the Medical Reviewer works for the

 

         6     General Counsel; the Chief Investigator and those who

 

         7     report to the Chief Investigator.  I would move that you

 

         8     approve this organizational chart.

 

         9                 MS. KIRCH:  So moved.

 

        10                 DR. BAEPLER:  Second.

 

        11                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Motion and a second to

 

        12     approve the organizational chart.  Any discussion on it? 

 

        13     I have to say it looks really very nice.

 

        14                 All in favor?

 

        15                 (Ayes.)

 

        16                 Opposed?

 

        17                 Chair votes in favor, motion carried.

 

        18                 MR. LESSLY:  Under the changes in the manual,

 

        19     the personnel policy simply adds the two new positions to

 

        20     the executive staff and redefines the administrative

 

        21     professional staff.  There's a change in my job

 

        22     description.  My title, at the request of the Medical

 

        23     Association in the Legislature, was changed to Executive

 

        24     Secretary from Executive Director.  I think that was an

 

 

 

 

                                     68

 


         1     effort to attempt to downgrade the position.  However,

 

         2     I'd like to thank you for that change because, as I've

 

         3     pointed out to Dr. Baepler, that he is merely the

 

         4     Secretary and I'm the Executive Secretary, so now he is

 

         5     working directly for me on some projects.  That's the

 

         6     change in mine.

 

         7                 The change in -- well, the new Deputy

 

         8     Executive Secretary/Special Counsel position simply

 

         9     reflects that that person does my duties when assigned. 

 

        10     Same is true with the new Deputy General Counsel job

 

        11     description and the Deputy Executive Secretary/

 

        12     Information Systems Administrator change.

 

        13                 It takes some of the provisions that Maureen

 

        14     had been doing out and goes over to the Administrative

 

        15     Assistant to the Executive Secretary, and then I believe

 

        16     the ultimate change was the Financial Manager is deleted

 

        17     in its entirety since we no longer have a Financial

 

        18     Manager, and then the Medical Reviewer job description

 

        19     was cleaned up to reflect reporting to the general

 

        20     counsel.  And those are the changes, and I'd be happy to

 

        21     answer any questions with respect to those job

 

        22     descriptions.

 

        23                 DR. BAEPLER:  The auditors are complimentary

 

        24     in that we are beginning to -- the auditors are

 

 

 

 

                                     69

 


         1     complimentary in that we are beginning to achieve a

 

         2     separation of powers in the alteration of expenditures

 

         3     and checks and everything under this system.  Sometimes

 

         4     that's difficult to achieve in a small staff, but they're

 

         5     pleased that we've essentially arrived at that point.

 

         6                 MR. LESSLY:  So I need a motion to approve

 

         7     those job description changes.

 

         8                 DR. TITUS:  So moved.

 

         9                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

        10                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

        11     second to approve the proposed job description changes.

 

        12                 All in favor? 

 

        13                 (Ayes.)

 

        14                 Opposed?

 

        15                 Chair votes in favor as well.

 

        16                 MR. LESSLY:  I'd point out to you that we

 

        17     always in December traditionally approved the job

 

        18     descriptions and this policy manual.  There will be some

 

        19     cleanup in the policy manual.  I don't expect any change

 

        20     in the organizational chart other than the possible --

 

        21                 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Excuse me.  We cannot

 

        22     hear the speaker.

 

        23                 MR. LESSLY:  It probably would help if I

 

        24     turned the microphone on.

 

 

 

 

                                     70

 


         1                 I said we have traditionally reviewed the

 

         2     operational chart and the job descriptions in the

 

         3     December board meeting.  I don't anticipate that there

 

         4     will be any changes other than some cleanup and the

 

         5     possibility of the two additional staff members I

 

         6     mentioned earlier being added to that chart.

 

         7                 What doesn't appear on there, as you all

 

         8     know, we have a legislative counsel, Keith Lee.  He is on

 

         9     our payroll.  He doesn't appear on the staff, but he's

 

        10     still working with us between the sessions with respect

 

        11     to legislation we may be seeking for next session of the

 

        12     Legislature.  And that's all I have to say about the

 

        13     organizational chart.

 

        14                 And the next item is videoconferencing

 

        15     equipment for the Board conference room, and Mr. Clark

 

        16     has that item.

 

        17                 MR. CLARK:  Madam President, members of the

 

        18     Board, in order to assist the Board in considering an

 

        19     office in Las Vegas and video teleconferencing capability

 

        20     for the Reno office and the Las Vegas office, or just the

 

        21     Reno office and a public facility in Las Vegas, we got

 

        22     some bids for equipment for video teleconferencing.  One

 

        23     was from Data and Voice Integration, a private company in

 

        24     Reno, and the other was from the state system computing

 

 

 

 

                                     71

 


         1     services at the university, UCCSN.

 

         2                 In order to put in a full-up video

 

         3     teleconferencing capability at the Board's conference

 

         4     room in Reno, which would allow the Board then to go back

 

         5     to Friday/Saturday meetings, the cost would be

 

         6     $39,148.26, and there are two add-ons to that which are

 

         7     potentials, and they are, for $2500 additional, you can

 

         8     have a video camera that can put up on the screen a

 

         9     document so that people in Las Vegas can show documents

 

        10     to people in Reno, people in Reno can show documents to

 

        11     people in Las Vegas, and you can read the documents from

 

        12     the screens.  For an additional $7,000, you can get two

 

        13     plasma screens, which are state of the art, probably more

 

        14     advanced than the screens you're looking at right now,

 

        15     but those are items that are available.

 

        16                 If you stay with the private system, then you

 

        17     have the capability of having meetings any days you want

 

        18     because you would have your own T-1 line and you would be

 

        19     able to utilize that at your convenience.  If you go with

 

        20     the university system, you would be on the State's T-1

 

        21     line, and it has iffy capability on Saturdays.  They're

 

        22     available some Saturdays, some Saturdays they're not, so

 

        23     you really couldn't schedule ahead of time on your own

 

        24     schedule to have Friday/Saturday meetings.

 

 

 

 

                                     72

 


         1                 And in addition, the State's quote for the

 

         2     equipment for both offices is $54,600, which is

 

         3     considerably more than the 39,100 that the private

 

         4     organization was quoting for us, and with the State

 

         5     system you have an annual fee of $7500 to utilize their

 

         6     line, an access fee.  That access fee would not be

 

         7     required utilizing your own system on a T-1 line.

 

         8                 Let me go from that to a Las Vegas office,

 

         9     and this is as a result -- this consideration is as a

 

        10     result of directions that were given to the Board by

 

        11     committees of the State Legislature at the recently

 

        12     concluded session, and in looking into the potential for

 

        13     office space in Las Vegas, I went down and I talked to

 

        14     Buildings and Grounds to see if there was some space

 

        15     available in the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas.

 

        16                 At the time that we had our discussion, there

 

        17     was 1200 square feet available in the Sawyer Building,

 

        18     and they charge a $1.15 per square foot, but I was

 

        19     cautioned at that time that the space was right next to

 

        20     the governor's ombudsman's office, which wanted to

 

        21     expand, and that we -- if we even took the space, we

 

        22     could get kicked out of it if an agency that was already

 

        23     in the building wanted to expand into that area.

 

        24                 In the interim, between then and now, that

 

 

 

 

                                     73

 


         1     area has been taken and is no longer available.  Because

 

         2     the State Pharmacy Board and the State Board of Nursing

 

         3     and the Division of Child and Family Services are located

 

         4     in an office complex by the name of LaPlaza Business

 

         5     Center on South Maryland Parkway, just south of Flamingo

 

         6     and across the street on the east from UNLV, I went and

 

         7     met with the property manager there.

 

         8                 They have a number of office configurations

 

         9     that are available.  They charge $1.53 a square foot, and

 

        10     they include air conditioning and water and electricity

 

        11     in their charge.  I found out from the State Pharmacy

 

        12     Board that if you lease outside of a state building, then

 

        13     you have to go to Buildings and Grounds and they

 

        14     negotiate your lease for you for a small four percent of

 

        15     the total lease price, which you add on to your rental

 

        16     price, which the Department of Administration takes so

 

        17     that Perry Comeaux can take vacations periodically.  He

 

        18     likes to go out of the country.

 

        19                 And so we would be stuck paying an extra four

 

        20     percent in a private facility, but these are pretty nice

 

        21     facilities, and I think that we can accommodate the Board

 

        22     very well there depending on how much space the Board

 

        23     wants.

 

        24                 Now, in pursuing this a little bit further,

 

 

 

 

                                     74

 


         1     one of our licensing specialists has expressed an

 

         2     interest in moving to Las Vegas and taking a licensing

 

         3     position there, so if we were to run -- if the Board were

 

         4     to run a full-up office there, we would be proposing a

 

         5     licensing specialist, an investigator and a

 

         6     receptionist/administrative support person.  That would

 

         7     require reception area, two offices, a kitchen and a

 

         8     conference room.  That's probably about 1600 square feet,

 

         9     and that would be $1836 a month or 22 -- about 22,100 a

 

        10     year, plus the four percent, which would run it up to

 

        11     22,900 and change per year.

 

        12                 In addition to that, you would need

 

        13     telephones, which would be about 400 a month; you would

 

        14     need three computers, which are 2300 each; a fax; copying

 

        15     and scanning machine; and that's about 550 a month from

 

        16     Xerox.  And so if you were to put people down there,

 

        17     giving an investigator a $45,000-a-year salary, and

 

        18     figuring in 33 percent for the perks, insurance and

 

        19     retirement, a licensing specialist at $40,000, figuring

 

        20     in the perks and an admin receptionist at 30,000 plus the

 

        21     perks, you would be looking at about 163,000 a year in

 

        22     personnel expenses to do that.

 

        23                 Overall, at a minimum, you would be looking

 

        24     at about $275,000 a year, and there may be some

 

 

 

 

                                     75

 


         1     additional expenses that we didn't consider in the

 

         2     initial -- oh, furniture for three offices -- two

 

         3     offices, a reception area and a conference room, about

 

         4     25,000 from Machabee Office.

 

         5                 DR. BAEPLER:  Does that include a Xerox and a

 

         6     fax machine?

 

         7                 MR. CLARK:  Yes.  It's a single machine,

 

         8     Xerox, copying and fax machine.

 

         9                 And I did not figure in kitchen costs, which

 

        10     would be a refrigerator and things of that nature, but

 

        11     you're looking at probably, in round figures, $300,000 a

 

        12     year to operate that facility in the south.

 

        13                 One other thing that you could consider, if

 

        14     you wanted to go that route and you wanted to pay for the

 

        15     document-copying capability, is you could hold IC

 

        16     meetings with some of the members in Las Vegas and some

 

        17     of the members here in Reno.  I don't think that -- I

 

        18     mean, that makes a logistical nightmare, and it's not

 

        19     quite as easy to have the meeting go forward as well as

 

        20     the meeting today and the meeting that Dr. Baepler ran a

 

        21     week or so ago, but it is at least a possibility when one

 

        22     of the members of the Board just can't possibly come up

 

        23     to the northern part of the state.

 

        24                 And one final thing.  If the Board decides

 

 

 

 

                                     76

 


         1     that it should have one or more meetings a year in the

 

         2     southern part of the state, you would have facilities to

 

         3     accommodate that.

 

         4                 DR. BAEPLER:  If I may just make a couple of

 

         5     comments.  By the way, the Plaza, I had no idea we were

 

         6     looking there, but the research center I'm associated

 

         7     with at the university, until relatively recently we

 

         8     rented a whole floor from them, and it was very

 

         9     satisfactory.  You have ample and easy parking, it's

 

        10     close to the airport, et cetera, et cetera.

 

        11                 It may be due to political expediency that we

 

        12     have to open an office in Las Vegas.  If so, we really

 

        13     can't go to our old module.  We had a small office with a

 

        14     single-staff-type operation.  If we went to that, I would

 

        15     recommend that we hire a retired Maytag repairman to

 

        16     staff it because that office had no equipment and we need

 

        17     someone trained just to sit there.

 

        18                 In reality, if you examine the operation up

 

        19     here, doctors, physician assistants and respiratory

 

        20     therapists do not stop by our office, you see.  They just

 

        21     don't unless they're summoned because we're investigating

 

        22     them, but the day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month

 

        23     traffic is nil, zero.

 

        24                 I think the staff has worked out a practical

 

 

 

 

                                     77

 


         1     solution to have a larger office down there that would

 

         2     have some functions associated with it assigned to the

 

         3     two staff people, functions related to licensure and

 

         4     other things, which can easily be done from here, but

 

         5     also can easily be done down there, and, of course, the

 

         6     main reason would be to have the conference room for

 

         7     teleconferencing whenever we required it, you know.

 

         8                 I would point out that the $300,000 figure is

 

         9     minimal.  When you think in terms of total revenue, make

 

        10     that 600,000 because I think in biennial terms rather

 

        11     than annual terms.  We would have to have a very

 

        12     significant increase in licensing fees to accommodate a

 

        13     $600,000 additional expense on a biennial basis.  Perhaps

 

        14     this is worth it.  It's certainly something to consider.

 

        15                 DR. TITUS:  Did the Legislature mandate that

 

        16     we open or we're to consider an office?

 

        17                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Let me give a little

 

        18     background on that.

 

        19                 Initially in the committee, there was a big

 

        20     push to move the entire operation to Las Vegas, and as

 

        21     the discussion proceeded, I agreed that we would look at

 

        22     opening an additional office instead of moving the entire

 

        23     office and operation to Las Vegas.  It's not been put in

 

        24     a legislative -- there's no bill that says we have to do

 

 

 

 

                                     78

 


         1     this, but it certainly was very strongly communicated to

 

         2     us in the session that we should have a visible office

 

         3     open in Las Vegas.

 

         4                 MR. CLARK:  One thing I might add for your

 

         5     edification, and that is, the licensing specialist, if we

 

         6     were to open an office in Las Vegas, would take the

 

         7     respiratory therapists' and the physician assistants'

 

         8     files down there and handle the licensing of those two

 

         9     professions from that office rather than try to split the

 

        10     physicians out.  They would all stay in the north with

 

        11     the four licensing specialists that will be there.

 

        12                 DR. BAEPLER:  Let me emphasize there once

 

        13     again that when people apply for licenses, they don't

 

        14     come to the office.

 

        15                 DR. TITUS:  I have some real concerns about

 

        16     where the documents would be, and I appreciate saying the

 

        17     idea already of not having to split -- there would be

 

        18     some files and some physicians in Las Vegas with some --

 

        19     I mean, that seems to me would be total chaos.  If we

 

        20     have an IC committee meeting and we need a file, to me it

 

        21     just would not work, and it would be very cumbersome to

 

        22     have good control of documents that are very sensitive if

 

        23     we have split offices, and I least appreciate the thought

 

        24     that you would take a set group of files there as opposed

 

 

 

 

                                     79

 


         1     to trying to have some M.D.s there and some not.

 

         2                 I really would have to question at this time

 

         3     if it's economically viable to consider an office there,

 

         4     and I think that by hosting an -- I am for

 

         5     teleconferencing, I am for getting some setup so we can

 

         6     broadcast these to Las Vegas, but having an office, I

 

         7     would at this time think that it's economically not

 

         8     advisable for us to do that.

 

         9                 DR. BAEPLER:  The figures clearly show it is

 

        10     not economically advisable.  However, it may be

 

        11     politically advisable.

 

        12                 MR. CLARK:  I would adjust one thing, and

 

        13     that is, even if the Board agrees and directs us to

 

        14     purchase the video teleconferencing capabilities for the

 

        15     Reno office, if we don't have our own facilities in

 

        16     Las Vegas, then we're at the mercy of a public building,

 

        17     which is probably not going to be available to us on

 

        18     Saturday, and so in order to accomplish going back to

 

        19     Friday/Saturday meetings, we probably have to have a

 

        20     place of our own with which to have our own equipment on

 

        21     our own T-1 line in order to accommodate that facility.

 

        22                 DR. LUBRITZ:  How portable is that equipment?

 

        23                 MR. CLARK:  I don't think it's portable at

 

        24     all.  I think once you install it, it's installed as far

 

 

 

 

                                     80

 


         1     as the screens are concerned and the speakers and things

 

         2     of that nature.  And there would be two cameras in each

 

         3     of the conference rooms looking at -- facing the Board

 

         4     and facing speakers, and then two large screens, one

 

         5     showing you what's going on down there and one showing

 

         6     you what's going on up here, but the equipment itself is

 

         7     not portable.

 

         8                 DR. LUBRITZ:  It would seem far more

 

         9     reasonable, given the expense of $600,000 per biennium,

 

        10     to have an office just for the videoconferencing and buy

 

        11     the videoconferencing equipment than it would be to staff

 

        12     a new office there.  We all know where that came from,

 

        13     we're not going to be shy about it, and my personal

 

        14     thought is it's an expense that we probably have to go

 

        15     to, one that's really unnecessary, but if we have to do

 

        16     it, a lot more economic to do it by just having an office

 

        17     that we use just for videoconferencing for the very few

 

        18     people who show up there, and that's it.

 

        19                 DR. BAEPLER:  And for an occasional IC

 

        20     committee meeting.

 

        21                 DR. LUBRITZ:  And for an occasional whatever.

 

        22                 DR. ANWAR:  The expenses, the bulk of the

 

        23     expenses seem to be in personnel and their benefits and

 

        24     salaries.  Now, do we need to have a decent personnel

 

 

 

 

                                     81

 


         1     down there, that like we have up here, or would some of

 

         2     the people up north move down south?

 

         3                 MR. CLARK:  They would be additional

 

         4     personnel to what we have here.  One of the License

 

         5     Specialists has agreed to move down south, so she is

 

         6     already well trained.  We were -- we are considering, as

 

         7     a result of the Chief License Specialist's request,

 

         8     hiring an additional License Specialist for the north to

 

         9     cover all of the additional work that is coming in here.

 

        10                 We would hire an additional investigator for

 

        11     the south who would have to be trained before he or she

 

        12     were turned loose there, and we would hire an

 

        13     administrative support person in the south as well, but

 

        14     those would be new positions essentially.

 

        15                 DR. BAEPLER:  If I understand this, however,

 

        16     if we did not have the office manned down there, you

 

        17     would still add at least one additional position here in

 

        18     all probability?

 

        19                 MR. LESSLY:  I think we may be talking about

 

        20     two positions.

 

        21                 DR. BAEPLER:  The net additional cost is the

 

        22     secretarial-type position?

 

        23                 MR. LESSLY:  The net additional cost is in

 

        24     the facility, the equipment, the secretarial cost.  I

 

 

 

 

                                     82

 


         1     believe that before this next meeting occurs, I'm going

 

         2     to be asking for authority for a Licensing Specialist and

 

         3     an investigator.

 

         4                 If this happens, just as Tony indicated, we

 

         5     would transfer the respiratory therapy and PA licensure

 

         6     function to Las Vegas.  The investigators have indicated

 

         7     they can have an investigative person assigned there and

 

         8     keep that person busy with the full scope of an

 

         9     investigation, but we're going to be looking, I believe,

 

        10     at two more people whether we do the office or not.

 

        11                 DR. ANWAR:  My question really would be, what

 

        12     are the true additional costs of having an office down

 

        13     south if you don't take those two people who we were

 

        14     planning to have up north anyway, whether they're located

 

        15     physically up north or down south? 

 

        16                 DR. BAEPLER:  About 440,000 biennially off

 

        17     the top of my head.  Maybe more on that.

 

        18                 MR. CLARK:  That's about right.  Under

 

        19     $500,000 for the biennium.

 

        20                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  One of the -- Joel, your

 

        21     comment was a good one.  One of the problems, though,

 

        22     that we would have is that one of the criticisms of the

 

        23     Board at the Legislature was lack of availability or lack

 

        24     of capability of people to come and be at the meetings

 

 

 

 

                                     83

 


         1     and so forth.

 

         2                 It's clear that we need to have at least, I

 

         3     think, one meeting a year down in Las Vegas, so if we're

 

         4     to do this, we not only need to have an office that would

 

         5     house videoconferencing equipment; we need to have enough

 

         6     space that would house the Board for meetings and so that

 

         7     we can go from Reno to Vegas.  So that's another part of

 

         8     this that we need to consider, I think, that we need to

 

         9     have the capability of having meetings there as well.

 

        10                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Is there someone that wants

 

        11     to make a comment down in Vegas?

 

        12                 DR. KINGSLEY:  Yes.  Dr. English, this is

 

        13     Dr. Ed Kingsley, the president of Clark County Medical

 

        14     Society, and we were discussing the option of the Board

 

        15     setting up the teleconferencing equipment in your own

 

        16     office, and then we would be willing to offer our Clark

 

        17     County Medical Society office space for teleconferencing,

 

        18     putting the equipment in there, and we won't even charge

 

        19     you.

 

        20                 DR. BAEPLER:  How large is the area?

 

        21                 DR. KINGSLEY:  I don't know if it would be

 

        22     large enough for the meetings you're speaking of, but it

 

        23     would certainly be large enough for the teleconferencing.

 

        24                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  That's a very nice offer. 

 

 

 

 

                                     84

 


         1     I'm a little confused.  Do you have teleconferencing

 

         2     equipment now or are you just offering --

 

         3                 DR. KINGSLEY:  No, we don't have the

 

         4     equipment.  We just offered the space.

 

         5                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Is the space -- I'm sorry,

 

         6     I probably am having difficulty hearing you, but did you

 

         7     say that the space would accommodate enough for a Board

 

         8     meeting or would just accommodate the equipment?

 

         9                 DR. KINGSLEY:  The conference room we use for

 

        10     our meetings probably holds 25 or 30 people at the most,

 

        11     so I don't know if that would be sufficiently large for

 

        12     your needs, but it would be large enough for

 

        13     teleconferencing, I think, in most cases in terms of the

 

        14     meetings you were talking about having.

 

        15                 If you were going to hold the meetings down

 

        16     here, I don't know if that would be large enough for you,

 

        17     but it should be large enough for the teleconferencing

 

        18     purposes.

 

        19                 DR. MONTOYA:  That's a generous offer.

 

        20                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  That's a very nice offer

 

        21     and I appreciate that.  That's certainly something to

 

        22     consider.  Thank you for that suggestion.

 

        23                 DR. KINGSLEY:  You're welcome.

 

        24                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Well, I'm not quite sure

 

 

 

 

                                     85

 


         1     what to do.  This is not something that I suppose we have

 

         2     to decide at this meeting, but I think this obviously has

 

         3     some significant financial impact for the Board.  It also

 

         4     is clear from public comment as well as legislative

 

         5     comment that we somehow, I think, need to improve our

 

         6     accessibility to people in Las Vegas, and so somewhere or

 

         7     another, whether it involves the office or it involves

 

         8     something that was just suggested, we need to look at the

 

         9     capability of videoconferencing and the capability of

 

        10     allowing us to have a place that's accessible to have

 

        11     meetings down there as well.

 

        12                 DR. TITUS:  I would encourage the lines of

 

        13     communication to stay open and continue to research this

 

        14     new offer and different options.  I think it's also a

 

        15     generous offer and would table this and give them

 

        16     Godspeed for this time around and rediscuss it in

 

        17     December.

 

        18                 DR. BAEPLER:  Madam Chair, I agree with that. 

 

        19     Someone needs to look at the space, of course.  It's a

 

        20     very generous offer.  It, of course, does not include a

 

        21     physical presence there by any staff, so it would be a

 

        22     relatively inexpensive option, but I don't know if it

 

        23     meets legislative concerns.  I can't assess that.

 

        24                 MS. KIRCH:  What about -- if you're looking

 

 

 

 

                                     86

 


         1     at that, the pharmacy Board, do they have a facility

 

         2     where they have like a conference room that we could

 

         3     pursue possibly renting some space from them as well if

 

         4     the Clark County Medical doesn't work out?

 

         5                 MR. CLARK:  I don't believe they have a

 

         6     conference room.  I know they have office space down

 

         7     there, but I don't believe they have a conference room,

 

         8     and I don't know what the nursing Board or Child and

 

         9     Family Services has.

 

        10                 MS. KIRCH:  You know, it was just a thought

 

        11     if there was some way to work with another Board or share

 

        12     even some expenses on the teleconferencing, if it got to

 

        13     the point where they needed to teleconference also.

 

        14                 MAUREEN:   Right now we are also sharing

 

        15     Contractors Board offices, but the problem is they are

 

        16     closed on Saturday.

 

        17                 MS. KIRCH:  I realize that, but perhaps if we

 

        18     went into some of the other facilities, they would give

 

        19     us access on Saturdays where they're not in a state

 

        20     building or something like that.

 

        21                 MR. MATHIAS:  Larry Mathias, Nevada State

 

        22     Medical Association.

 

        23                 The Board of Pharmacy does have a conference

 

        24     room, but it doesn't have video-casting capability.  It

 

 

 

 

                                     87

 


         1     is large enough for the Board meetings.  They alternate

 

         2     their Board meetings between north and south, so -- but

 

         3     they don't have videoconferencing capability.  The

 

         4     nursing Board also doesn't have conferencing

 

         5     capabilities.

 

         6                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you.  Okay.  I think

 

         7     that there was -- was that a motion, Robin, to table this

 

         8     agenda item, and we will gather some information and

 

         9     maybe take a look at the space that was generously

 

        10     offered, and then we'll bring this back again in

 

        11     December?  So is there a second to that motion?

 

        12                 MS. KIRCH:  I second that.

 

        13                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Any further discussion?

 

        14                 All in favor? 

 

        15                 (Ayes.)

 

        16                 Opposed?

 

        17                 Chair votes in favor of the motion; the

 

        18     motion carries.

 

 

        19                 MR. CLARK:  Madam President, is there a

 

        20     motion or does that motion include a stay on the video

 

        21     teleconferencing equipment as well or just the space?

 

        22                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  That's a very good point. 

 

        23     I think that we in some manner need to proceed with the

 

        24     videoconferencing equipment, and I think that

 

 

 

 

                                     88

 


         1     irregardless of whether we do an office down there, we're

 

         2     going to need to do the videoconferencing, so I think

 

         3     that -- is that everybody else's --

 

         4                 DR. TITUS:  On a second motion, I would move

 

         5     that we seek more negotiation with the private sector for

 

         6     videoconferencing.

 

         7                 DR. LUBRITZ:  Second it.

 

         8                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  All in favor?

 

         9                 (Ayes.)

 

        10                 Chair votes in favor.

 

        11                 So we'll pursue that part of it.

 

        12                 MR. CLARK:  And I will check out both the

 

        13     conference room at the Clark County Medical Society and

 

        14     the pharmacy board's conference room and check the

 

        15     availability there as well.

 

        16                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Great.  Thank you.

 

        17                 DR. TITUS:  I think that our Legislature in

 

        18     good faith want us to communicate with everybody

 

        19     throughout our State, and keeping the lines of

 

        20     communication open, I think it's good faith if we show

 

        21     them the costs and what we're trying to do, and keeping

 

        22     us available to our peers in Las Vegas, I think that's

 

        23     the intent of this, and I think that's -- they would be

 

        24     encouraged that we're making progress.

 

 

 

 

                                     89

 


         1                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you, Robin.

 

         2                 MAUREEN:   Excuse me.  Can we have

 

         3     clarification?  Are we tabling until December the

 

         4     purchase of video equipment also?

 

         5                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  No.  There were two

 

         6     separate motions.  We're tabling the office, and we're

 

         7     moving ahead with the videoconferencing.

 

         8                 MR. LEGARZA:  Can I say something?  I'm not

 

         9     so sure you can move ahead with the purchase of video

 

        10     equipment until you make a decision as to, one, whether

 

        11     or not you're going to have a facility that is going to

 

        12     allow you, for instance, to have meetings in Las Vegas as

 

        13     well as videoconferencing, because not only must you have

 

        14     videoconferencing from Reno to Las Vegas, you must also

 

        15     have videoconferencing from Las Vegas to Reno, so I don't

 

        16     think you should buy your equipment until you find out

 

        17     what it is that you're going to do with respect to a

 

        18     physical plant in Las Vegas, if you're just going to have

 

        19     a big conference room where you can have meetings and

 

        20     where you can videoconference to Reno or if you're going

 

        21     to have offices or not have offices.

 

        22                 DR. BAEPLER:  If we had our own

 

        23     videoconferencing, could we videoconference with the

 

        24     current facility that we're using today in Vegas?

 

 

 

 

                                     90

 


         1                 MAUREEN:   They're not open on Saturdays.

 

         2                 DR. TITUS:  But yes, yes.

 

         3                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Tony, let me ask you this: 

 

         4     I guess the question that Dick brings up is a good one in

 

         5     that if we purchase the equipment, does it -- you brought

 

         6     up a couple of different options, whether we go with the

 

         7     State or whether we go with the private sector, and if we

 

         8     purchase the equipment, say, for the Reno office, but

 

         9     we're not sure yet where we're going to be located, is

 

        10     that going to be a problem?

 

        11                 MR. CLARK:  I don't know, and I'll have to

 

        12     find out from the video teleconferencing people.  I know

 

        13     that if we bought the private sector equipment, it is

 

        14     compatible with the equipment that the Department of

 

        15     Health and Human Services for the State has, and we

 

        16     could -- you could piggyback to Carson City on that

 

        17     equipment or to Las Vegas on that equipment, so I think

 

        18     that's a distinct possibility, but I'll have to find out

 

        19     for sure and find out whether that equipment is

 

        20     compatible with the equipment in this building and the

 

        21     Henderson building of the Contractors Board, and I'll do

 

        22     that.

 

        23                 DR. LUBRITZ:  I think that it's reasonable to

 

        24     proceed along the lines, you'll have a bid and the bid

 

 

 

 

                                     91

 


         1     will allow you X number of months -- you can explain to

 

         2     them what we're trying to do -- so that we can have

 

         3     everything available to us, knowing what the cost is,

 

         4     knowing what the delivery time is, knowing what the

 

         5     installation time is, and certainly we can proceed on

 

         6     that.

 

         7                 We think we know what we're going to need,

 

         8     you know the scenarios that we need, and you can have

 

         9     bids for those, and then it's just finding how are we

 

        10     going to and where are we going to install it.  I think

 

        11     it's foregone that we're going to need it, so I don't

 

        12     think one needs to be waiting upon the other.

 

        13                 MR. HUGHES:  Excuse me.  May I add something? 

 

        14     This is Mike Hughes.

 

        15                 Tony and I have discussed the

 

        16     videoconferencing arrangements with the video people. 

 

        17     One thing I think is being overlooked in this discussion

 

        18     is the fact that, regardless of where you put the

 

        19     equipment both in Reno and Las Vegas, you're going to

 

        20     have to have a technician available on the days that you

 

        21     want to link up the equipment, in order to set up the

 

        22     equipment, and so that might be a person that comes in

 

        23     from the outside that helps us or somebody internally

 

        24     that's trained to do that.

 

 

 

 

                                     92

 


         1                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I think that's a very good

 

         2     point, Mike.  Thank you for bringing that up.

 

         3                 Are we clear on what we're doing?

 

         4                 DR. TITUS:  Clear as mud.

 

         5                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I'm going to skip ahead to

 

         6     Agenda Item No. 17, and that is ratification of licenses

 

         7     issued and reinstatement of licensures, and I just need a

 

         8     motion to approve those.

 

         9                 DR. MONTOYA:  So moved.

 

        10                 MS. KIRCH:  Second.

 

        11                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  There's a motion and a

 

        12     second to approve the ratification of licenses.  Any

 

        13     discussion?

 

        14                 All in favor? 

 

        15                 (Ayes.)

 

        16                 Opposed?

 

        17                 Chair votes in favor, and the motion carries.

 

        18                 And believe it or not, I think -- Larry says

 

        19     not.

 

        20                 MR. LESSLY:  There are informational items

 

        21     under Item No. 11.  Maureen has a report on the website

 

        22     additions.

 

        23                 DR. BAEPLER:  We skipped No. 9, too.

 

        24                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Dick wants to do that.

 

 

 

 

                                     93

 


         1                 Maureen. 

 

         2                 MS. LYONS:  Larry has been searching and

 

         3     searching the statute since the legislative session ended

 

         4     to find lots of work for me to do on our website.  Every

 

         5     day he says, "I found something else, and this other

 

         6     statute that is requiring that we do this, that and the

 

         7     other."

 

         8                 So I'm going to have to go through and make

 

         9     major modifications to our website.  I've purchased Adobe

 

        10     Acrobat, which allows you to translate any document into

 

        11     a readable, downloadable file.  So I will be able to put

 

        12     our -- all of our applications for licensure on line, our

 

        13     registration forms.  The Legislature requires that all of

 

        14     our forms go on line, so I will be starting this project

 

        15     as soon as I can following this board meeting, and I hope

 

        16     to have it completed by --

 

        17                 MR. LESSLY:  She will have it completed

 

        18     before she leaves.

 

        19                 MS. LYONS:  -- by January.  Thank you.

 

        20                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  I know that's a lot of

 

        21     work, updating that and adding information, and I know

 

        22     you'll do just a great job, Maureen.

 

        23                 Okay.  I believe that we have completed all

 

        24     the agenda items that we can today.  We have the legal

 

 

 

 

                                     94

 


         1     reports which Dick and Charlotte will do tomorrow, and

 

         2     tomorrow, just for the benefit of all our audience

 

         3     members both here and in Las Vegas, are just

 

         4     adjudications and appearances all day.

 

         5                 So just point of information, you're

 

         6     certainly welcome.  There will be a lot of those

 

         7     appearances that will bounce back between open and closed

 

         8     session, but just so that you know what is on the agenda

 

         9     for tomorrow.

 

        10                 At this point, before we adjourn or recess

 

        11     for today, if there's any public comment from either Las

 

        12     Vegas or Reno, I would take it at this time.

 

        13                 Okay.  Hearing none from either place --

 

        14                 DR. HAVENS:  Don Havens, Clark County Medical

 

        15     Society.  I think in consideration of the Senate, at

 

        16     least Commerce and Labor Committee, that access would be

 

        17     satisfied if we just had videoconferencing.  Personally,

 

        18     the physicians that I know I don't think would be --

 

        19     would be fully satisfied if we had videoconferencing

 

        20     without you all having to trek down here to a meeting in

 

        21     Las Vegas once a year.  The access would be there if the

 

        22     videoconferencing capability is there.

 

        23                 So I know that you feel that it's good to be

 

        24     down here once a year, perhaps in December, but I'm not

 

 

 

 

                                     95

 


         1     sure it would be necessary if we had the

 

         2     videoconferencing.

 

         3                 DR. BAEPLER:  Dr. Havens, what is your

 

         4     personal opinion on the --

 

         5                 DR. HAVENS:  Sorry.  Can you turn your mic

 

         6     on?

 

         7                 DR. BAEPLER:  What's your personal opinion on

 

         8     the necessity to have full-time staff located in Vegas?

 

         9                 DR. HAVENS:  My personal feeling is that's

 

        10     not necessary.  If you have access to the Board from the

 

        11     public and physicians at the meetings, that that is

 

        12     satisfactory.

 

        13                 DR. BAEPLER:  Thank you.  I just wanted

 

        14     clarification of that.

 

        15                 DR. HAVENS:  The physicians here, I don't

 

        16     think, are interested in creating unnecessary expenses

 

        17     for the Board because we know where the source of the

 

        18     income comes from for those expenses.  So if there's

 

        19     videoconferencing, I think that's adequate.

 

        20                 I think the emphasis about putting an office

 

        21     down here came from one source in particular, and I don't

 

        22     think, again, if there's videoconferencing, that there's

 

        23     going to be an objection to that.

 

        24                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Thank you for those

 

 

 

 

                                     96

 


         1     comments.  I appreciate that.

 

         2                 MR. LEGARZA:  Don, hey Don.  What's that one

 

         3     source in particular? 

 

         4                 DR. HAVENS:  It slips my mind, but Cheryl

 

         5     might recall.

 

         6                 MR. LEGARZA:  Was it a legislator or an

 

         7     individual?

 

         8                 DR. HAVENS:  I think it was a legislator.

 

         9                 MR. LEGARZA:  From the north or the south?

 

        10                 DR. HAVENS:  I think it might have been from

 

        11     the north.

 

        12                 MR. LEGARZA:  Thank you.

 

        13                 DR. HUG-ENGLISH:  Okay.  Any other public

 

        14     comments?  If not, we will recess until tomorrow morning

 

        15     at 8:30.

 

        16                 (Proceedings adjourned at 3:30 p.m.)

 

        17    

 

        18    

 

        19    

 

        20    

 

        21    

 

        22    

 

        23    

 

        24    

 

 

 

 

                                     97

 


         1     STATE of NEVADA  )

 

         2                      )  ss.

 

         3     COUNTY of WASHOE )

 

         4     

 

         5                  I, PEGGY B. HOOGS, a notary public in and

 

         6     for the County of Washoe, State of Nevada, do hereby

 

         7     certify:

 

         8                  That on Thursday, the 4th day of September,

 

         9     2003, I was personally present for the purpose of acting

 

        10     as a Certified Court Reporter in the matter entitled

 

        11     herein;

 

        12                  That said transcript which appears

 

        13     hereinbefore was taken in verbatim stenotype notes by me

 

        14     and thereafter transcribed into typewriting as herein

 

        15     appears;

 

        16                  That the foregoing transcript, consisting of

 

        17     pages 1 through 97, is a full, true and correct

 

        18     transcription of my stenotype notes of said hearing to

 

        19     the best of my knowledge, skill and ability.

 

        20                  Dated at Reno, Nevada, this 26th day of

 

        21     September, 2003.

 

        22                                                        

                                   Peggy B. Hoogs, CCR #160, RDR5

        23    

 

        24    

 

 

 

 

                                     98