Bill Text: WV HB2443 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Granting the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses the sole authority for the accreditation of nursing schools
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-01-15 - To House Health and Human Resources [HB2443 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2019-HB2443-Introduced.html
WEST virginia legislature
2019 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2443
By Delegates Pack and Cooper
[Introduced January 15, 2019; Referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §30-7-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to granting the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses the sole authority for the accreditation of nursing schools.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 7. REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL NURSES.
§30-7-5. Schools of nursing; accreditation; standards; surveys and reports; failure to maintain standards.
(a) A nursing program is determined to be board
approved if the program is accredited by a national nursing accrediting agency
recognized by the United States Department of Education. The accreditation is
considered board approved and is exempt from board rules that require ongoing
approval if the school or program maintains this accreditation.
(b) By July 1, 2022, all nursing programs shall be
accredited by a national accrediting agency recognized by the United States
Department of Education. A program created after July 1, 2018, shall have 5
years to obtain accreditation by an accrediting agency recognized by the United
States Department of Education.
(c) The board may require information concerning the
nursing program to be reported to the board by legislative rule. The requested
information shall be consistent with information already being collected by the
schools which is required to maintain the program’s accreditation.
(d) The board shall approve a new nursing program until
the program is accredited by a national nursing accrediting agency recognized
by the United States Department of Education
An institution desiring to be accredited by the board for the preparation of practitioners of registered professional nursing shall file an application with the board, together with the information required and a fee of $50. It shall submit written evidence that: (1) It is prepared to give a program of nursing education which meets the standards prescribed by the board; and (2) it is prepared to meet all other standards prescribed in this article and by the board.
Instruction and practice may be secured in one or more institutions approved by the board. Such institution or institutions with which the school is to be affiliated shall be surveyed by the executive secretary of the board, who shall submit a written report of the survey to the board. If, in the opinion of the board, the requirements for an accredited school to prepare practitioners of registered professional nursing are met, it shall approve the school as an accredited school. From time to time as deemed necessary by the board, it shall be the duty of the board, through its executive secretary, to survey all such schools. Written reports of such surveys shall be submitted to the board. If the board determines that any such accredited school is not maintaining the standards required by this article and by the board, notice thereof in writing specifying the defect or defects shall be immediately given to the school. A school which fails to correct these conditions to the satisfaction of the board within a reasonable time shall be removed from the list of accredited schools.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to grant the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Registered Professional Nurses the sole authority for the accreditation of nursing schools. The bill reverts the code provision on nursing school accreditation back to what it was before being amended during the 2018 Legislative Session.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
