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Regular Session, 2010
SENATE BILL NO. 140
BY SENATOR SHAW
HEALTH CARE. Allows anesthesiologist assistants to administer anesthesia under certain
cirsumstances. (8/15/10)
AN ACT1
To amend and reenact R.S. 37:930(G), relative to the anesthetics; to provide for the2
authority for anesthetic assistants to administer anesthesia in certain circumstances;3
and to provide for related matters.4
Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:5
Section 1. R.S. 37:930(G) is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows: 6
ยง930. Anesthetics; authority to administer; penalty7
* * *8
G.(1) The Louisiana Legislature hereby finds that:9
(a) Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) have been selecting10
and administering anesthesia in Louisiana and the United States for over one hundred11
years.12
(b) The specialty of nurse anesthesia was established in the late 1800s as the13
first clinical nursing specialty.14
(c) Nursing took the lead in formalizing anesthesia practice as a specialty15
and in providing for specialty education and credentialing in anesthesia practice.16
During World War I, nurse anesthetists trained both physicians and nurses to provide17 SB NO. 140
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anesthesia services both at home and abroad.1
(d) Nurse anesthetists alone provided the overwhelming majority of2
anesthetics up until World War II.3
(e) Nurse anesthetists receive rigorous clinical and academic training,4
requiring a bachelor's degree from an accredited school of nursing and one year of5
professional nursing experience in an acute care setting prior to being considered for6
entrance to an accredited twenty-four to thirty-six month nurse anesthesia7
educational program.8
(f) CRNAs administer the majority of anesthetics in Louisiana and all of the9
anesthetics in many parts of the state.10
(g) Multiple studies have demonstrated that CRNAs are safe, accessible, and11
cost-effective providers of anesthetics.12
(h) CRNAs are critical providers of quality anesthesia services in the health13
care delivery system in this state.14
(i) An adequate supply of CRNAs in Louisiana is vital to continued access15
to safe, cost-effective health care for the citizens of Louisiana.16
(j) Anesthesiologist assistants (AAs) are not presently authorized to train or17
practice in Louisiana and are only recognized in eight states.18
(k) Less than six hundred AAs exist in the United States while over thirty19
thousand CRNAs are licensed and authorized to practice in every state in the United20
States.21
(l) CRNAs receive a much higher level of education and training than do22
AAs.23
(m) After thirty years of existence, only two AA schools exist in the United24
States while there are ninety-nine CRNA schools.25
(n) CRNAs are trained and legally authorized to administer all types of26
anesthetics in all settings while AAs are limited by the type of anesthetics they can27
administer and the settings in which they are authorized to perform their services.28
(2) It is hereby declared that CRNAs are an essential provider of safe,29 SB NO. 140
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accessible, and cost-effective anesthesia care to the citizens of Louisiana. It is1
further declared that a sufficient supply of CRNAs in Louisiana is affected with the2
public interest. It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent to encourage a3
sufficient ongoing supply of CRNAs in this state and to discourage the creation and4
authorization of providers of anesthesia not otherwise presently trained and licensed5
to provide anesthesia. Specifically, it is the intent of the legislature to prevent the6
introduction of AAs into Louisiana until such time that they are deemed to be viable7
providers of anesthesia services. The purpose of this Subsection is to carry out that8
policy in the public interest, providing for the repeal of any provision that provides9
otherwise.10
(3) No health care provider or other person, other than a certified registered11
nurse anesthetist, physician, dentist, perfusionist, an anesthesiologist assistant who12
holds a current certification by the National Commission for the Certification13
of Anesthesiologist Assistants, or other explicitly authorized provider, shall select14
or administer any form of anesthetic to any person either directly or by delegation15
unless explicitly authorized by this Title. However, an anesthesiologist assistant,16
certified by the National Commission for the Certification of Anesthesiologist17
Assistants, shall only be able to select and administer any form of anesthetic by18
delegation and under the direct supervision of an anesthesiologist licensed by19
the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners.20
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Greg Waddell.
DIGEST
Present law provides that no health care provider or other person, other than a certified
registered nurse anesthetist, physician, dentist, perfusionist, or other explicitly authorized
provider, shall select or administer any form of anesthetic to any person either directly or by
delegation unless explicitly authorized by this Title.
Proposed law retains present law and adds that an anesthesiologist assistant who holds a
current certification by the National Commission for the Certification of Anesthesiologist
Assistants shall be able to select or administer any form of anesthetic to any person either
directly or by delegation unless explicitly authorized by present law.
Proposed law further provides that anesthesiologist assistant, certified by the National
Commission for the Certification of Anesthesiologist Assistants, shall only be able to select SB NO. 140
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and administer any form of anesthetic by delegation and under the direct supervision of an
anesthesiologist licensed by the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners.
Effective August 15, 2010.
(Amends R.S. 37:930(G))