Friday, March 23, 2012
WELCOME!!!
Welcome and thanks for checking out the new KSNMT blog. In an effort to disseminate information to all technologists in an efficient and expedient manner, we are converting our previous method of communication from a semi-annual newsletter to a blog. Converting to a blog format will allow us to communicate more frequently with technologists in the state and it will also allow you to respond or comment on news items we post. In addition,you can email us at ksnmtblog@gmail.com requesting we post information about issues that you may be facing in your position as an NMT to get feedback from other technologist throughout the state. We hope you like the new format and look forward to you following us. Feel free to leave your comments about the change. We'd love to hear from you!
HB 137 Update 3/12/2012
Hi Everyone,
First, I
want to thank everyone for all of their efforts over the past few months with
regard to HB 137. As we worked to get the bill passed in the House,
it was very apparent that your representatives have been hearing from their
constituents. We would not be where we are without the everyone’s help.
We are now
at a critical time in the process. Although the bill passed the House,
85-7, it is now in the Licensing, Occupations, & Administrative Regulations
Committee of the Senate. We are now in dire need of a senator to
sponsor our bill. Tomorrow morning, Karen Leek and I are scheduled to
meet with Senator Schickel (Boone county) who chairs this committee, however, I
don’t know that he will introduce or sponsor the bill as committee chair.
Therefore, it is imperative that everyone contact his/her senator by calling:
·
800-372-7181
·
Leave
a message for your senator, asking him/her to sponsor the bill.
The operator
at this number will take the message and forward to your senator. Anyone
living in Kentucky should call—including students, friends, neighbors,
relatives. The operator will ask for your name and address; he/she will
also help you if you do not know the name of your senator. I’ve been told
that volume is important; the more calls received about a particular bill, the
faster the bill moves through the system. The call takes just a few
minutes, but can have a significant impact on the movement of this bill through
the system. DON’T
WAIT! This session of the legislature will end in a few weeks. Make your call today and encourage at
least 1 other person to call, as well. This is our chance, as a
profession, to have our own professional board, similar to the other health
professions.
Thanks for
your help,
Andrea
Andrea J. Cornuelle, M.S.,R.T.(R)
Professor, Radiologic Technology
Director, Health Science Program
Northern Kentucky University
227 Albright Health Center
Highland Heights, KY 41099
PH: 859-572-5606
FX: 859-572-1314
Call your senator 3/20/2012
If
you have not called your KY state senator, please do so right away.
At this point all that is left is for the Senate to pass this bill, and time is
running out for this legislative session.
· 800-372-7181
· Leave a
message for your senator, asking him/her to support HB 137 as it comes to the
full Senate.
Note:
You don't need to know your Senator, they will walk you through the
process.
HB 137 3/20/2012 update
All.
I
just learned….HB 137 passed the Senate committee this morning and has
been put on the consent calendar where it will be included with other bills
expected to pass! Jackie Darling, Karen Leek, Dewey Crawford, and
Vanessa Breeding were able to attend the meeting this morning to represent our
cause. Thank you to everyone who took the time to make those phone calls
to representatives and senators.
As
recently as yesterday afternoon, we were told this bill may not go before the
committee this session. This illustrates the importance of a grass roots
network, as we know legislators received messages from many constituents, which
obviously had a significant impact. Please keep this in mind as you
consider calling your representatives in Congress, as we have several Kentucky
representatives who have not yet signed on in support of the CARE bill, including
Geoff Davis and Ben Chandler. The volume of calls can have an impact, as
witnessed here in Kentucky.
Once
our Kentucky bill passes the entire Senate, I will send additional information
about what to expect in the coming months. Thanks again for all that you’ve
done and let me know if you have any questions.
Andrea
J. Cornuelle, M.S.,R.T.(R)
Professor,
Radiologic Technology
Director,
Health Science Program
Northern
Kentucky University
227
Albright Health Center
Highland
Heights, KY 41099
PH:
859-572-5606
FX:
859-572-1314
RTs in Washington need your help!
Technologists:
Please
contact your representative in Washington, DC, to tell them that there will be
RT's in Washington in March 26-27. Ask
that they cosponsor and support the CARE Bill HB 2104. (Full text http://interactive.snm.org/docs/HR_2104_Care_Bill.pdf
). You can find the information to
contact them on <www.ksrtinc.com> or
at http://www.house.gov/ . We need your support all over the state to
pass this very important legislation.
Contact
as many people as possible to call or email Washington DC. Each and every one of you can make and
incredible difference. Please support
your profession today and make the call.
We need tons of people calling all over the state but Geoff Davis ---
Ben Chandler---and John Yarmuth have not signed on --so they really need a BIG
push. If your representative is Brett
Guthrie, Hal Rogers or Ed Whitfield please contact them, and say, "Thanks"
for signing on and to continue to support it.
Thanks for all your help.
Forwarded
from Jackie Darling, MSU, Radiologic Science program
HB 137 2/28/2012 Update
Read this update from Charles Coulston on HB 137 that supports the creation of a state licensing Board for nuclear medicine technologists and other related healthcare professionals in the state of Kentucky.
KY Board of Medical Imaging & Radiation Therapy
The proposed licensure board to replace the current technologist licensure program in Kentucky has successfully passed from the House
Health and Welfare Committee through the entire House with only small changes
to the original proposal. None of these changes affects the organization
or functions of the licensure board. Many thanks to Representative John
Will Stacy who sponsored and introduced the bill to the House. Now it is
on to the Senate committee and then to the entire Senate for passage.
At present, those who are working closely with this bill are
looking for a Senator who will sponsor the bill to that part of the legislature.
It looks as though we may have a sponsor in Senator Julie Denton who is also a
dental hygienist that recognizes the importance of self-oversight by
technologists.
You may read the text of the legislation at http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/12RS/HB137.htm
(click on the HB 137 hotlink to read the entire bill).
Radiographer certification has been a fact of life in KY since
1978 – a very progressive move for that time. In 2007, the KAR (KY
Administrative Regulations) were revised to include NMTs and RT(T)s. A
2011attempt to pass the current proposal was unsuccessful.
At 8000 certificates, we are the 3rd largest group of
health professionals in KY (following RNs and MDs). The breakdown is as
follows:
Radiographers ………….…5,900
NMTs ……………….……….545
Radiation Therapists …….….237
Limited Operators ………...1,070
Temporary Licensees ……….400
Other smaller groups such as Respiratory Care, Occupational
Therapy, Physical Therapists as well as Barbers and Auctioneers must have a
license to practice or work in KY. It seemed to be the right to make the
move to independent oversight of our work, our education, our practice
standards, and to take on the discipline of those who decide not to abide by
our standards.
With the public attention on radiation exposure from medical
imaging and other sources, we need a stronger and authoritative organization to
make sure that qualified individuals are the ones practicing medical imaging
and therapy in KY. Mirroring other medically oriented groups, we have
proposed a 9-person board with an executive director and clerical staff to
perform this work. With the expansion of fusion imaging in PET-CT,
SPECT-CT and the advent of PET-MRI among other new and innovative imaging methods
not yet developed, it is hoped that this proposed structure can respond more
quickly to the changes in national standards regarding who is qualified to
operate new technologies.
Of course fees are going to increase. Our current fee
structure is among the least costly of any certification in KY. What the
ad hoc group has heard all through this process is that fees are going up
whether our organizational structure changes or not. We are hoping that
the new structure will be able to represent and respond to our professional
needs in a way that the current structure cannot and that there will be value
added for each of us by whatever the new fees are through the work of this
board.
While I worked with the development of the legislation, those who
have continued to shepherd this proposal through the legislative process are
Andrea Cornuelle, NKU Radiography program; Jackie Darling, MSU Radiologic
Sciences program, Dewey Crawford, BCTC NMT program and formerly of the
Radiation Health Branch (retired) among others. A great deal of thanks
goes to all of you, those rank-and-file technologists who lent their support to
this process by calling their representatives asking for support of this
board. Andrea said that she overheard representatives talk about receiving
enthusiastic support from constituents for this legislation. (Also thanks
to Andrea for much of the factual information contained in this article.
It would not have been nearly so coherent without the material she has been
presenting to make our case.)
Those of you who receive email from me will be getting some more
when it is time to start to call our Senators. Please watch for it and
give it your support.
Charles H Coulston, MSEd, CNMT, ARRT(N)(R)
Lexington KY
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