DALLAS, June 15, 2016 – More than 400 National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) members from 48 states will descend on Congress on Wednesday, June 22, 2016, for the organization’s annual Capitol Hill Day in an effort to educate members of Congress about the athletic training profession and request their support in the passage of the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act (H.R. 921 and S. 689). The bill protects athletic trainers and other sports medicine professionals who travel to secondary states with an athletic team to provide care for that team. Capitol Hill Day also marks the kickoff of NATA’s 67th annual convention taking place at the Baltimore Convention Center. Nearly 8,000 members of the profession are expected to attend the convention.
Introduced by Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) and Cedric Richmond (D-LA) and Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) last year, the bill clarifies medical liability rules for athletic trainers and other medical professionals to ensure they are properly covered by their malpractice insurance while traveling with athletic teams in another state.
“This legislation is critical to the athletic training profession,” said NATA president Scott Sailor, EdD, ATC. “It ensures full protection and coverage of athletic trainers and other sports medicine professionals whether at home or on the road across state lines. Most important is ensuring the best sports safety practices for our athletes and providing them with the best quality of care.”
The bill aims to preserve athletes and athletic teams’ access to sports medicine professionals who provide high-quality health care services. Under the legislation, health care services provided by a covered athletic trainer or other sports medicine professional to an athlete, athletic team or a staff member in another state will be deemed to have occurred in the professional’s primary state of licensure. In addition, the providers will be able to treat injured athletes across state lines without the fear of incurring great professional loss. This bill reinforces the sports medicine team collaborative approach to care among physicians, athletic trainers and others. It is also vital in light of playoffs, championship games and college bowl games where teams travel a great distance with very little notification.
For additional information on the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act, including a link to encourage Congressional members to co-sponsor the bill, visit www.nata.org/advocacy/federal/bills-we-support/sports-medicine-licensure-clarity-act.