HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2657

TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS.

 

 

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

 


SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the State's department of health developmental disabilities division operates the medicaid intellectual and developmental disabilities home and community-based services waiver under the medicaid services section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act (HCBS I/DD waiver).  The HCBS I/DD waiver is reviewed and approved by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and has many requirements to ensure appropriate and efficient provision of services and supports to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

For children in the HCBS I/DD waiver who have an autism spectrum disorder, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has clarified that services for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder must be provided through the child’s medicaid health plan through the medicaid early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment benefit.  Services cannot be provided under waiver services pursuant to section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act.  Therefore, the developmental disabilities division provides behavioral analysis services only to adults with behavioral challenges and only in home and community based settings.

     The legislature further finds that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires states to provide participant safeguards that ensure the health, safety, and rights of HCBS I/DD waiver participants.  The State developmental disabilities division has policies and procedures to ensure that positive behavior supports are used to proactively minimize challenging behaviors, and define and limit the use of restrictive procedures.  The developmental disabilities division also conducts oversight and continuous quality assurance to ensure safe and appropriate practices that include a behavior review committee to review quality of care for individuals who need supports to learn new behaviors.

     Amending the exemptions for participants in the medicaid intellectual and developmental disabilities waiver will ensure that a qualified workforce can continue to provide necessary behavior interventions while simultaneously facilitating efforts to build an adequate workforce for clients who depend on these services.

     The purpose of this Act is to:

     (1)  Clarify the scope of practice of behavior analysis to mean the practice of applied behavior analysis; and

     (2)  Broaden the exemption of licensed or credentialed practitioners practicing within their own recognized scopes of practice who are exempt from chapter 465D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, behavior analysts law.

     SECTION 2.  Section 465D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definitions of "licensed behavior analyst" and "practice of behavior analysis" to read as follows:

     ""Licensed behavior analyst" means a person:

     (1)  Who engages in the practice of applied behavior analysis and uses the title of licensed behavior analyst;

     (2)  Who has been issued a license under this chapter; and

     (3)  Whose license is in effect and not revoked, suspended, or encumbered.

     "Practice of applied behavior analysis" means the design, implementation, and evaluation of instructional and environmental modifications to produce socially significant improvements in human behavior.  Practice of applied behavior analysis includes the empirical identification of functional relations between behavior and environmental factors, known as functional assessment and analysis.  Practice of applied behavior analysis also includes the use of contextual factors, motivating operations, antecedent stimuli, positive reinforcement, and other consequences to help people develop new behaviors, increase or decrease existing behaviors, and emit behaviors under specific environmental conditions.  Practice of behavior analysis expressly excludes psychological testing, diagnosis of a mental or physical disorder, neuropsychology, psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, sex therapy, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, and long-term counseling as treatment modalities."

     SECTION 3.  Section 465D-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  Beginning on January 1, 2016, except as specifically provided in this chapter, no person shall engage in the practice of applied behavior analysis or use the title "licensed behavior analyst" or "behavior analyst" without a valid license issued pursuant to this chapter."

     SECTION 4.  Section 465D-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§465D-7  Exemptions.  (a)  This chapter is not intended to restrict the practice of other licensed or credentialed practitioners practicing within their own recognized scopes of practice and shall not apply to:

     (1)  An individual working within the scope of practice or duties of another licensed profession that overlaps with the practice of applied behavior analysis; provided that the person does not purport to be a licensed behavior analyst;

     (2)  An individual who implements or designs applied behavior analysis services and possesses board certification as an assistant behavior analyst by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and who practices in accordance with the most recent supervisory and ethical requirements adopted by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board under the direction of a behavior analyst licensed in this State;

     (3)  An individual who designs or implements applied behavior analysis services to participants in the medicaid home and community-based services waiver pursuant to section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act, provided that a behavioral review committee provides quality assurance and oversight;

    [(3)] (4)  An individual who directly implements applied behavior analysis services and:

         (A)  Is credentialed as a registered behavior technician by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, and is under the direction of a behavior analyst licensed in this State; or

         (B)  Is a direct support worker who provides autism treatment services pursuant to an individualized education plan on or before January 1, 2019; [[or]

       [(C)]  Is a direct support worker who provides medicaid home and community-based services pursuant to section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act on or before January 1, 2019;]

          provided that for purposes of this paragraph, "direct support worker" means a teacher or paraprofessional who directly implements intervention or assessment plans under supervision and does not design intervention or assessment plans;

    [(4)] (5)  A family member [or], legal guardian, or caregiver implementing an applied behavior analysis plan and who acts under the direction of a licensed behavior analyst [licensed in this State;] or licensed psychologist as long as the person is not in any manner held out to the public as a "licensed behavior analyst" or "behavior analyst" and the behavior analysis services provided by the licensed psychologist are within the licensed psychologist's recognized scope of practice;

    [(5)] (6)  An individual who engages in the practice of applied behavior analysis with nonhuman or nonpatient clients or consumers including but not limited to applied animal behaviorists and practitioners of organizational behavior management;

    [(6)] (7)  A matriculated graduate student or postdoctoral fellow whose activities are part of a defined applied behavior analysis program of study, practicum, or intensive practicum; provided that the student's or fellow's activities or practice is directly supervised by a behavior analyst licensed in this State or an instructor in a Behavior Analyst Certification Board-approved course sequence; or

    [(7)] (8)  An individual pursuing experience in applied behavior analysis consistent with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's experience requirements; provided that the experience is supervised by a behavior analyst licensed in this State.

     (b)  Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent any licensed psychologist from engaging in the practice of applied behavior analysis in this State as long as the person is not in any manner held out to the public as a "licensed behavior analyst" or "behavior analyst" and the behavior analysis services provided by the licensed psychologist are within the licensed psychologist's recognized scope of practice."

     SECTION 5.  Section 465D-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  In addition to any other acts or conditions provided by law, the director may refuse to renew, reinstate, or restore and may deny, revoke, suspend, or condition in any manner any license for any one or more of the following acts or conditions on the part of a licensee or license applicant:

     (1)  Failure to meet or to maintain the conditions and requirements necessary to qualify for the granting of a license;

     (2)  Engaging in false, fraudulent, or deceptive advertising, or making untruthful or improbable statements in advertising;

     (3)  Engaging in the practice of applied behavior analysis while impaired by alcohol, drugs, physical disability, or mental instability;

     (4)  Procuring through fraud, misrepresentation, or deceit a license to engage in the practice of applied behavior analysis;

     (5)  Aiding and abetting an unlicensed person to directly or indirectly perform activities requiring a license for the practice of applied behavior analysis;

     (6)  Engaging in professional misconduct, incompetence, gross negligence, or manifest incapacity in the practice of applied behavior analysis;

     (7)  Engaging in conduct or a practice contrary to recognized standards of the most recent ethical guidelines for the practice of applied behavior analysis as adopted by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board;

     (8)  Violating any condition or limitation imposed by the director on a license to practice applied behavior analysis;

     (9)  Engaging in the practice of applied behavior analysis in a manner that causes injury to one or more members of the public;

    (10)  Failing to comply with, observe, or adhere to any law in a manner that causes the director to determine that the applicant or holder is unfit to hold a license;

    (11)  Having a license revoked or suspended or other disciplinary action by any state or federal agency for any reason that is provided by the applicable licensing laws or by this section;

    (12)  Having been convicted or pleaded nolo contendere to a crime directly related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the practice of applied behavior analysis;

    (13)  Failing to report in writing to the director any disciplinary decision issued against the licensee or applicant in another jurisdiction within thirty days of the disciplinary decision;

    (14)  Failing to report in writing to the director the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's revocation of the certification of a licensee or applicant within fifteen days of the revocation;

    (15)  Employing, whether gratuitously or for pay, any person not licensed pursuant to this chapter to perform the functions or duties of the practice of applied behavior analysis; or

    (16)  Violating this chapter, chapter 436B, or any rule or order of the director."

     SECTION 6.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________



 

Report Title:

Medicaid; Developmental Disabilities; Waiver; Applied Behavior Analysis; Autism Spectrum Disorder

 

Description:

Clarifies the scope of practice of behavior analysis to mean the practice of applied behavior analysis.  Broadens the exemption of licensed or credentialed practitioners practicing within their own recognized scopes of practice who are already exempt from the Behavior Analyst Law, to include participants in the Medicaid Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Home and Community-Based Waiver.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.