HB692: HB692 Nurses; notify supervising or delegating physician when subject to a complaint or report in outpatient settings; provisions

Under current Georgia law, complaints against nurses go to the Georgia Board of Nursing, and physicians who supervise or delegate authority to those nurses are not automatically told about complaints tied to prescribing or medication tasks. This bill adds a new section to Georgia's nurse reporting law (O.C.G.A. Title 43, Chapter 26) to change that. Starting July 1, 2025, a registered professional nurse or advanced practice registered nurse working outside a hospital setting who learns of a complaint involving physician-related duties, such as ordering, administering, or prescribing drugs and other prescription products, must immediately tell their supervising or delegating physician. The Georgia Board of Nursing must also immediately forward copies of such complaints, along with investigative materials, to the Georgia Composite Medical Board. By December 31, 2025, the nursing board must also send the medical board copies of similar complaints going back to January 1, 2021. Communications between the two boards stay confidential under Georgia's medical peer review law, and the requirements do not apply to nurses working through home health agencies.

• Requires outpatient registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses to immediately tell their supervising or delegating physician if they learn of a complaint involving physician-related duties like prescribing.
• Requires the Georgia Board of Nursing to immediately send the Georgia Composite Medical Board copies of qualifying complaints and any investigative materials, starting July 1, 2025.
• Requires the nursing board to send the medical board a batch of similar complaints and reports going back to January 1, 2021, by December 31, 2025.
• Protects communications between the two boards under the confidentiality rules for medical peer review groups (O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapter 7).
• Exempts complaints about prescription products handled through home health agencies from all these requirements.

Registered professional nurses and advanced practice registered nurses working in outpatient settings, the physicians who supervise or delegate authority to them, the Georgia Board of Nursing, and the Georgia Composite Medical Board, which would receive shared complaint records under the bill.

Physicians who oversee outpatient nurses would learn sooner about complaints tied to prescribing or medication duties, potentially affecting their own liability or oversight decisions. Nurses would face a new immediate reporting duty, and two years of past complaint records would be shared between the state's nursing and medical boards.

• New Code Section 43-26-56(a) defines terms like 'prescription product,' 'biological product,' 'compounded drug,' and 'medical device' used throughout the section.
• Subsection (b) requires outpatient nurses to immediately notify their supervising or delegating physician upon learning of a complaint involving physician-related care, effective July 1, 2025.
• Subsection (c) requires the Georgia Board of Nursing to immediately transmit qualifying complaints and investigative materials to the Georgia Composite Medical Board, overriding normal confidentiality under O.C.G.A. § 43-1-21.
• Subsection (d) requires a one-time transmission by December 31, 2025 of qualifying complaints and reports received between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2025.
• Subsection (e) preserves confidentiality and peer review privileges for communications between the two boards under O.C.G.A. Title 31, Chapter 7.
• Subsection (f) exempts complaints about prescription products provided through home health agencies, as defined in O.C.G.A. § 31-7-150.

1. 2025-03-04House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-03-03House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-28House Hopper (House)

• Mark Newton (R, HD-127)Primary sponsor
• Lee Hawkins (R, HD-027)

• nursing regulation
• medical licensing
• physician oversight
• prescription drugs
• healthcare complaints