Oct 8, 2018Trump Signs Sports Medicine Bill
On Friday, October 5, President Donald Trump signed the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act, a law that protects sports medicine officials when they cross state lines to treat athletes under their care.
According to newswise.com, the law is the product of thousands of American Medical Society for Sports Medicine members working for years. Representatives Cedric Richmond and Brett Guthrie sponsored the House version of the bill, while Senators Amy Klobuchar and John Thune sponsored the Senate version.
Chad Asplund, President of the AMSSM, testified in support of the bill in 2015. He said he was glad that the bill was passed.
“The passage of this bill is the culmination of many years of work and is a testament to the collaboration between AMSSM, NATA and AAOS,” Asplund said. “This bill will provide protection, both legal and malpractice, for those sports medicine physicians that travel with their teams, which will ultimately make participation safer for those athletes that travel as part of their competitions.”
The bill removes jurisdictional issues that prevents sports medicine professionals from being covered by malpractice insurance when they are in another state, thus enabling them to treat injured athletes without incurring financial and professional risk.
Chad Carlson, Vice President of the AMSSM, thanked everyone who helped create and pass the bill.
“This problem required a federal fix in order to overcome the patchwork policies that existed in different states with regards to liability coverage, but reducing licensure ambiguity in the process is a huge bonus,” Carlson said.
