Wyoming Administrative Code
Agency 052 - Medicine, Board of
Sub-Agency 0001 - Medicine, Board of
Chapter 1 - LICENSE ELIGIBILITY, APPLICATION AND INTERVIEWS
Section 1-3 - Definitions

Universal Citation: WY Code of Rules 1-3

Current through September 21, 2024

The definitions contained in the Act and the APA are incorporated herein by this reference. In addition, the following definitions of terms used in all chapters of the rules promulgated under the Act shall apply:

(a) "A.B.M.S." means the American Board of Medical Specialties.

(b) "Active practice of medicine," for purposes of these Rules only, means the practice of medicine and provision of clinical or population-based care for an average of not less than twenty (20) hours per week in any consecutive twelve (12) month period in Wyoming or another jurisdiction in the United States or Canada.

(c) "Advisory council" means the advisory committee to the board of medicine on matters related to physician assistants created pursuant to Wyoming Statute33-26-503(b)(v).

(d) "Affidavit" means a written, notarized statement of facts made voluntarily under oath.

(e) "A.M.A." means the American Medical Association.

(f) "A.P.A." means the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act, W.S. 16-3-101, et seq.

(g) "Applicant" means any person who has applied to the board for issuance, renewal, or reactivation of a license.

(h) "Application" means a written submission to the board on a form approved by the board, and any accompanying documents.

(i) "Attending Physician" means a physician licensed by the Board who has established a physician/patient relationship;

(j) "B.O.S.B.O.C." means the Bureau of Osteopathic Specialists and Boards of Certification.

(k) "Clean application" means that the physician applicant has none of the following:

(i) Professional liability insurance settlement(s) or payment(s) in excess of $50,000 individually or $100,000 in the aggregate;

(ii) Criminal record;

(iii) Medical condition(s) which could affect the physician's ability to practice safely;

(iv) Licensing or regulatory board complaint(s), investigation(s), or action(s) (including withdrawal of a licensure application);

(v) Adverse action taken by a health care entity;

(vi) Investigation(s) or action(s) taken by a federal agency, the United States military, medical society or association; or,

(vii) Suspension or expulsion from, or probation or disciplinary action in, any academic program, including medical school, residency program or fellowship program.

(l) "CLIA waived tests" means those medical tests that are exempt from federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments requirements.

(m) "C.M.E." means continuing medical education.

(n) "Complainant" means any identified person, persons, association or entity, including the board or an individual member of the board, or the board staff, who communicates to the board alleging facts, which may constitute a violation of the Act by a licensee.

(o) "Complaint" means a communication received by the board which alleges sufficient to determine the identity of the licensee who allegedly engaged in the conduct, whether the alleged conduct falls within the board's jurisdiction, and whether the alleged conduct may constitute a violation of the Act.

(p) "Complaint file" means a confidential record of an initial complaint and information received or produced in the screening and investigation of a complaint.

(q) "Consults" means participates in an ongoing, documented consultative relationship including at least one Wyoming licensed, attending physician.

(r) "Core application documents" means the following:

(i) The required application form(s) and appropriate fee(s);

(ii) Form and supporting document(s) demonstrating proof of legal presence in the U.S. pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1601, et seq.;

(iii) an FSMB Board Action Databank report; and,

(iv) an NPDB report.

(s) "Costs" means those expenses incurred in a hearing to deny, refuse to renew, reactivate, reinstate, revoke, restrict, place conditions upon, or suspend a license pursuant to W.S. 33-26-405(a)(viii) and includes, but is not limited to, service fees, subpoena fees, reporter fees, lay and expert witness and consultant fees, travel and per diem expenses, deposition costs and other costs and expenses incurred in the investigation, discovery, preparation and hearing of any disciplinary matter.

(t) "Delegate" means transfer authority for the performance of a medical task.

(u) "Delegating physician" means a Wyoming-licensed physician who delegates duties to provide health care services to a medical assistant.

(v) "Docket file" means a confidential record of each board proceeding pertaining to a petition filed before the board or a denial of an application, and the reasons and grounds for each and every step in the disciplinary or appeal process, commencing with the first notice of complaint by any complainant or final order in a denial action. The docket file shall reflect every action in the proceeding.

(w) "Executive director" means a non-board member hired by the board pursuant to W.S. 33-26-203(a) and authorized to coordinate and direct board functions.

(x) "FSMB" means the Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc.

(y) "He," "his" and all other male pronouns shall be construed as including the corresponding female pronoun.

(z) "Hearing officer" means an attorney experienced in administrative law appointed by the board to perform those functions set forth in W.S. 16-3-112(b) and these rules in a contested case.

(aa) "Hearing panel" means the members of the board who hear and render a decision in a disciplinary case.

(bb) "HIPAA" means the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

(cc) "HIPAA privacy rule" means the federal regulations related to the privacy of protected health information at 45 C.F.R. 160 and 164 .

(dd) In addition to the definition set forth in the Act, "impaired" means a person who is unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to patients by reason of professional incompetence.

(ee) "Indeterminate scores" means passing level examination scores that cannot be certified as representing a valid measure of an examinee's competence in the domains assessed by the test. Indeterminate scores may result from irregular behavior, or they may be due to other factors such as examinee illness during part of an examination. Inconsistency of performance within the examination, between administrations with the same step examination, or other aberrations not reasonably and/or satisfactorily explained may result in passing scores being classified as indeterminate. If irregular behavior is determined to affect score validity, resultant passing scores are considered indeterminate.

(ff) "Informal interview" means a confidential meeting with a licensee and interviewers in which the specification of charges, defenses and responses are discussed after initial screening of the complaint and prior to a contested case hearing.

(gg) "Interviewers" are members of the board, and a member of the advisory council if the licensee is a physician assistant, appointed by the board president, or in his or her absence, the vice president, to investigate a complaint against a licensee, conduct an informal interview with the licensee, and make recommendations to the board officers for further board action.

(hh) "Interview date" means the day designated by the board for the licensure interview.

(ii) "Irregular behavior" means all actions on the part of applicants and/or examinees that subvert or attempt to subvert the examination process. Specific examples of irregular behavior include seeking and/or obtaining access to examination materials prior to the examination, falsification of information on application or registration forms, impersonation of an examinee or engaging a proxy to take the examination, copying answers from another examinee, etc. Irregular behavior is generally identified and subsequently reported by proctors or other individuals involved in examination registration or administration or is reported by examinees or others who believe inappropriate behavior has occurred.

(jj) "Ledger" means a continual, permanent, record of all complaints received by the board. A ledger entry shall commence with the initial complaint or final order in a denial action and shall contain the date of the action or complaint, the section(s) of the Act or the board's rules relied upon by the board as a basis for its action, the disposition of the matter, the disciplinary action taken, if any, and the date of final disposition. No information likely to disclose the identity of the complainant, applicant or respondent shall be included in the ledger.

(kk) "Legal custodian" means the executive director.

(ll) "Licensure interview" means an interview before a panel of not fewer than two (2) members of the board with an applicant who meets one or more of the criteria set forth in Chapter 1, Section 5(b)(iv) of these Rules.

(mm) "LMCC" means the Licentiate Medical Council of Canada.

(nn) "Medical assistant" means a person who does not hold a license to provide health care services issued under title 33 of the Wyoming Statutes, and is authorized and supervised by a Wyoming-licensed physician to provide health care services under limited delegation by the physician.

(oo) "Medical specialty consultant" means a person who consults with board staff, board prosecutor and interviewers or petitioners in a disciplinary action and provides specialized expertise on medical issues.

(pp) "National Boards" means the examination administered by the National Board of Medical Examiners.

(qq) "National certification" means certification of a physician assistant through the NCCPA or such other certification examination recognized by the board through examination and continuing medical education hours.

(rr) "N.B.M.E." means the National Board of Medical Examiners.

(ss) "NBOME" means the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners or the examination of graduates of the colleges of osteopathic medicine also known as the NBOME and/or the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX).

(tt) "N.P.D.B" means the National Practitioner Data Bank.

(uu) "Officers" means the president, vice president and secretary of the board.

(vv) "Petition" means a written request for formal disciplinary action filed with the Board by the Board Prosecutor against one or more licensees on behalf of one or more petitioners, or by a licensee or former licensee as a petitioner requesting removal of conditions of restrictions on a license, or reinstatement of a license.

(ww) "Petitioner" means a board or advisory council member who is appointed by the officers to act as a prosecuting party in a formal disciplinary action against one or more licensees, and who causes a petition to be filed before the Board, or a licensee or former licensee who files a petition before the Board.

(xx) "Physical address" the address of a licensee's practice or office location, or the licensee's home.

(yy) "Physician/patient relationship" means a relationship between a licensee and any person to whom the licensee provides any services or exhibits any conduct that constitutes practicing medicine.

(zz) In addition to the definition in the act, "practicing medicine" means any person who in any manner operates or delegates the responsibility to operate a medical device classified as a Class II or Class III medical device by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unless operation or authorization for operation occurs in a site under the direct supervision of a person licensed under this chapter.

(aaa) "Practicing medicine" does not apply to or include:

(i) Licensed health care providers rendering medical assistance without compensation during an emergency, including, but not limited to, physician assistants who may render aid at the scene of an emergency without physician supervision;

(ii) Medical students trained in an L.C.M.E. or A.O.A. accredited or board approved school of medicine, or who are E.C.F.M.G. certified, serving as clinical clerks,residents, fellows or interns under the supervision of a physician licensed in this state;

(iii) Commissioned medical officers of the United States armed services and medical officers of the United States public health services or the veterans' administration of the United States in the discharge of their official duties or within federally controlled facilities or enclaves, provided that such persons who are licensees of the board shall be subject to the provisions of the act and further provided that all such persons shall be the holder of a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in one or more jurisdictions in the United States;

(iv) Any individual residing in and licensed to practice medicine in another state or country called into this state for consultation by a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state;

(v) Any individual licensed to practice medicine in another state that comes to this state to remove human organs from brain dead persons;

(vi) The treatment of disease, injury, deformity or ailments by prayer or spiritual means provided that federal and state health and sanitation laws, rules and regulations are not violated;

(vii) The gratuitous domestic administration of family remedies;

(viii) A health care provider licensed under any other chapter of this title engaged in the practice of the profession for which he is licensed;

(bbb) "Reactivation" means the procedures set forth in these Rules to restore an emeritus, inactive or lapsed license to active status;

(ccc) "Respondent" means a licensee named in a petition.

(ddd) "Screening" means a review by the officers of complaints received by the board.

(eee) Repealed.

(fff) "SPEX" means the special purpose examination of current medical knowledge administered by the FSMB.

(ggg) "These rules" means all rules in all chapters properly adopted by the Board and currently in effect.

(hhh) In addition to the definition set forth in the Act, "unprofessional conduct" means:

(i) Improperly terminating a physician-patient relationship.

(ii) Interfering or attempting to interfere with a board investigation, whether of the licensee or another person. This includes, but is not limited to, attempting to intimidate or otherwise influence a complainant or witness to give less than full cooperation and truthful statements to the board in the course of an investigation.

(iii) Practicing as a physician assistant outside the scope of an approved physician assistant supervisory relationship.

(iii) "Application review committee" means one or more board members, including at least one (1) physician member of the Board, appointed by the President to review license applications.

(jjj) "FBI" means the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(kkk) "Act" and "the Act" mean the Wyoming Medical Practice Act, W.S. 33-26-101, et seq.

(lll) "ARC-PA" means the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant.

(mmm) "Supervising physician assistant" means a physician assistant with not less than five years of licensed experience approved by the board to supervise and be responsible for the acts of a physician assistant practicing under a temporary license issued by the board pursuant to W.S. 33-26-504(c).

(nnn) "Supervision" means the ready availability of the supervising physician or physician assistant for consultation and direction of the activities of a physician assistant. Contact with the supervising physician or physician assistant by telecommunications is sufficient to show the ready availability of supervision, if the board finds that such contact is sufficient to provide safe, quality medical care.

(ooo) "Lapsed" means a license that was not renewed, and expired for nonpayment of the renewal fee at the end of the term for which it was issued. It does not mean a license that was terminated as a result of disciplinary action.

(ppp) "Interstate Medical Licensure Compact" means W.S. 33-26-701, et seq., and the organization joined by the State of Wyoming by the adoption of that law.

(qqq) "IMLC" means the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.

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