CHAPTER 157

HB 295 – FINAL VERSION

HOUSE BILL 295

AN ACT relative to the use of long-term antibiotics for the treatment of Lyme disease.

SPONSORS: Rep. Daniels, Hills 6; Rep. C. Vita, Straf 3; Rep. Case, Rock 1; Rep. P. Schmidt, Straf 4; Sen. D’Allesandro, Dist 20; Sen. Forsythe, Dist 4

COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill requires the board of medicine to post a statement on Lyme disease treatment on its website.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven

AN ACT relative to the use of long-term antibiotics for the treatment of Lyme disease.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

157:1 Board of Medicine; Lyme Disease Treatment. The board of medicine established in RSA 329:2 shall post and maintain on its website the following statement: No licensee may be subject to disciplinary action solely for prescribing, administering, or dispensing long-term antibiotic therapy for a patient clinically diagnosed with Lyme disease, if diagnosis and treatment has been documented and monitored in the physician’s medical record for that patient.

157:2 Terms Defined. For purposes of section 1 of this act:

I. “Long-term antibiotic therapy” means the administration of oral, intramuscular, or intravenous antibiotics, singly or in combination, for periods of time in excess of 4 weeks.

II. “Lyme disease” means the clinical diagnosis by a licensed physician of the presence in a patient of signs or symptoms compatible with acute infection with Borrelia burgdorferi; or with late stage or persistent or chronic infection with Borrelia burgdorferi; or with complications related to such an infection; or such other strains of borrelia that are recognized by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a cause of Lyme disease. Lyme disease includes an infection that meets the surveillance criteria set forth by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other acute and chronic manifestations of such an infection as determined by a licensed physician, pursuant to a clinical diagnosis that is based on knowledge obtained through medical history and physical examination alone, or in conjunction with testing that provides supportive data for such clinical diagnosis. This definition is based on Connecticut Public Act No. 09-128 (HB 6200, approved June 18, 2009).

157:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved: Enacted in accordance with Article 44, Part II, of N.H. Constitution, without signature of the Governor, June 9, 2011.

Effective Date: June9, 2011