REMINDER – Ohio Licensed Practical Nurses: Renew Your Nursing License Now

Posted on October 25, 2018 by Beth Collis

Reminder to all LPNs: Renewal of Ohio licensed practical nurse (“LPN”) licenses began on July 1, 2018 and ends on October 31, 2018. At this time, you have less than a week left to renew your license.

It is a disciplinable offense to engage in the practice of nursing having failed to renew a nursing license. An Ohio LPN license which is not renewed will lapse on November 1, 2018. An Ohio LPN whose nursing license has lapsed is not authorized to work as a nurse until their nursing license is reinstated by the Ohio Board of Nursing.

The renewal fee is $65.00, plus a $3.50 transaction fee. A late processing fee goes into effect on September 16, 2018. An Ohio LPN who renews their nursing license on or after September 16, 2018 must pay an additional $50.00. Fees must be paid online at the time of renewal with a credit or debit card (Master Card, VISA or Discover), or pre-paid card. The renewal application will not be processed until all required fees are submitted. All fees are non-refundable.

The renewal application includes, but is not limited to, questions concerning criminal, licensure, mental health matters, and alcohol/drugs matters. All information provided in the renewal application is required to be true and accurate. Depending on the response given to certain questions in the renewal application, uploading an explanation and Certified copies of certain specific documents is also required.

In certain cases, the renewal application may be forwarded to the Ohio Board of Nursing Compliance Unit for review and an Ohio Board of Nursing investigator may contact the LPN to obtain additional information. In other cases, a Consent Agreement may be offered to the LPN to resolve a disciplinable offense instead of preceding to an administrative hearing.

If you do not understand a question in your LPN renewal application, or do not know what additional information to upload with your renewal application, it is recommended to obtain experienced legal counsel to assist you before submitting your LPN renewal application, speaking with an Ohio Board of Nursing investigator, or signing a Consent Agreement. Feel free to contact on of the attorneys at Collis Law Group LLC at (614) 486-3909 if you would like to schedule an appointment for a consultation for assistance to complete the renewal application.

For additional renewal application information from the Ohio Board of Nursing, see: http://www.nursing.ohio.gov/PDFS/Licensure/Renewal/Renewal_Momentum.pdf

As always, if you have questions about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing, contact one of the attorneys at Collis Law Group LLC at (614) 486-3909.

Ohio Nursing Board Investigations

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Beth Collis

A person may report to the Ohio Board of Nursing (“Nursing Board”) information the person has that appears to show a violation of a Nursing Board law or rule. The Nursing Board is required to investigate evidence that appears to show a violation of a Nursing Board law or rule.

The Nursing Board employs investigators who are located throughout Ohio. Each complaint received by the Board is assigned to an investigator. The investigator collects and reviews documents and interviews relevant parties.

In most instances, the investigator will also contact the nurse who is the subject of a complaint by phone, email, or correspondence and request the nurse to meet or speak with the investigator to address the concerns in a complaint or to give their “side of the story.”

In Ohio, a nurse’s participation in a Nursing Board investigation is voluntary, however, any information provided to the investigator may be used against the nurse in a Nursing Board disciplinary action.

Further, Ohio Revised Code Section 9.84 provides in part that a person who appears as a witness before any Nursing Board representative in an administrative investigation shall be permitted to be represented and advised by an attorney, and that the person shall be advised of the right to counsel before they are interrogated. We have seen printed on the back of a Nursing Board investigator’s business card the following statement:

“I have been advised by the OBN Agent that (i) I have the right to have an attorney present (per 9.84, ORC) and (ii) my interview is voluntary.”

However, in the stress of meeting with a Nursing Board investigator, a nurse might not take the time to read the card, and, even if they do read the card, they might feel uncomfortable requesting to postpone the meeting after they obtain legal counsel.

It is recommended to request and obtain legal counsel before speaking with or responding in writing to a Nursing Board investigator. Often, nurses are concerned that it will appear that they are hiding something or are uncooperative if they first obtain legal counsel. This is not the case. There are circumstances where it is advisable for a nurse and their legal counsel to meet with a Nursing Board investigator. Legal counsel can assist with protecting your rights, narrowing the issues, and providing guidance concerning the process.

It is also important to note that any information obtained by a Nursing Board investigator can be shared with local law enforcement if information is obtained that appears to show that a nurse has violated a criminal or other law outside of the Nursing Board’s jurisdiction.

As always, if you have a question about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

Ohio Nurses: Things To Consider If You Receive a Notice of Opportunity for Hearing from the Ohio Board of Nursing

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Beth Collis

Last week, I attended the Ohio Board of Nursing’s bi-monthly meeting where the members of the Board issued final sanctions against dozens of Ohio nurses. At that meeting, the members of the Board also authorized the issuance of over sixty Notices of Opportunity for Hearing to Ohio licensed nurses. The Notice of Opportunity for Hearing (or Notice of Automatic Suspension or Notice of Immediate Suspension) outlines specific charges against the nurse, which, if proven, can form the basis for the nurse to have their license revoked, suspended, placed on probation or reprimanded.

There are legal timelines that must be followed for a nurse to request a Hearing in order to defend their professional license. Failure to timely request a Hearing can bar the nurse from presenting ANY defense to the Board.

There is no routine disciplinary matter when it comes to a nurse’s professional license. Disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Board may affect a nurse’s ability to practice nursing in the short-term and can also impose permanent practice and/or narcotic restrictions.

If you receive a Notice of Opportunity for Hearing (or Notice of Automatic Suspension or Notice of Immediate Suspension), it is highly recommended to obtain experienced legal counsel to assist you before the Board. When hiring legal counsel, here are a few things to consider:

EXPERIENCE:

Does the attorney have experience with the type of matter for which you need representation?
Is this type of matter a usual part of the attorney’s practice?
Has the attorney handled any cases similar to your particular matter?
If it is a matter where a settlement or hearing may be involved, how many of those matters has the attorney handled?
In general for this type of matter, what does the attorney consider to be a good result?
Can the attorney explain the process to you?

ACCESS:

What is the best way to communicate with the lawyer and how will he or she communicate with you?
When can you expect to hear from the attorney?
Are there other people in the attorney’s office who can assist you should an emergency arise while your attorney is unavailable?
How will you know what work the attorney has done or will be doing on your matter?

COMPATIBILITY:

Will you be comfortable sharing your information with the attorney?
Do you understand the information the attorney is telling you?
Are there different approaches to your situation, and if so, how will the attorney decide which to take or recommend to you?

FEES:

How does the attorney charge you? Based on hours worked? Fixed fee? Or some other method?
Is payment required up front? If so, how and when is that money applied to your account?
Will you receive statements for the work performed?
Will you be charged for expenses (ex: travel, hotel, postage, copy charges)?
Does the attorney accept credit card payments?

This is a general guide and is not legal advice. Of course, there may be other questions or concerns you may want to discuss with a potential attorney based on your individual circumstances or issues.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or about the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

OHIO LPNs – It is time to renew your license to practice nursing in Ohio!

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Beth Collis

According to the Ohio Board of Nursing’s website, starting on July 1, 2016, all Ohio LPNs will be able to renew their professional license online.

Important renewal information from the Nursing Board is located at: http://www.nursing.ohio.gov/PDFS/2Renewal_Momentum.pdf

Often, nurses have questions about how to respond to certain questions on the Renewal Application and what information needs to be provided to the Nursing Board in the Renewal Application.

Nurses are required to provide the Nursing Board with truthful and accurate information on their Renewal Applications. Failure to do so can lead to discipline by the Nursing Board.

Additional Information May Be Required (from Ohio Board of Nursing website)
• If you are asked to provide court documents or other information that may be required as part of your application, please be prepared to upload the documents electronically through the online system. This information is usually required of applicants who answer “yes” to one of the additional information questions on the renewal application.
• No hardcopies of court documents or other information required as part of your application will be accepted. Waiting until a deadline and then realizing you do not have all the information and in the form needed to upload the documents electronically through the online system will prevent you from renewing.
• Incomplete renewal applications will not be accepted by the system. If all required documents are not provided electronically, the renewal application is incomplete.

If you have questions concerning how to respond to questions in your Renewal Application, what information you need to include, and/or what Court documents you need to include with your Renewal Application, it is recommended that you obtain experienced legal counsel to help you complete your Renewal Application.

The attorneys at the Collis Law Group offer a 1-2 hour consultation to meet with a nurse, review all relevant Court documents, and assist the nurse prepare any necessary or required response to a question on a Renewal Application. In most cases, we offer this consultation for as low as a flat fee of $500.00. Feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group at 614-486-3909 to schedule a Renewal Application consultation.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group by phone at 614-486-3909. For more information about the Nursing Board, please feel free to visit our website at www.collislaw.com.

You have a right to counsel when meeting with a Nursing Board investigator

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Beth Collis

The role of the Ohio Board of Nursing is to regulate the practice of nursing. This entails issuing professional licenses to nurses and also investigating and imposing discipline on nurses who violate the Ohio Nurse Practice Act.

Often, a nurse first learns that a complaint has been filed against them with the Nursing Board when they are contacted by a Nursing Board investigator. The Nursing Board has “field” investigators who work throughout Ohio and are each assigned to various geographic regions of the State. Once a complaint has been filed or initialed against a nurse, an investigator is assigned to conduct the investigation. This may include collecting records from the nurse’s employer or from the Court. It may also include contacting the nurse for a personal interview.

Prior to meeting with the Nursing Board investigator, please understand that under Ohio law, (R.C. 9.84) you have the right to be accompanied, represented and advised by an attorney and you are also required to be advised of the right to counsel BEFORE you are interrogated.

Unlike in a criminal proceeding, you will not be assigned legal counsel for your defense. You are required to seek your own legal counsel to assist in your defense before the Nursing Board or any other administrative agency. However, you have a right to have counsel present.

Many nurses have asked me whether they “look guilty” by attending the meeting with legal counsel or if it “appears that they are hiding something” if they take legal counsel with them to the meeting. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Meetings with investigators can be intimidating, overwhelming and threatening. Any information that is obtained by the investigator can and will be used against you before the Nursing Board. In addition, if the investigator believes that the nurse’s conduct violates the law, they can also alert the local sheriff’s department or criminal Prosecutor, and in certain instances, criminal charges can be issued against a nurse.

While I often encourage nurses to fully cooperate in an investigation, including meeting with the investigator, I highly encourage nurses to retain legal counsel to assist them throughout the investigative and disciplinary process. You have a right to counsel under Ohio law and it is in your interest to exercise this right to protect yourself.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please contact one of the attorneys at the law firm of Collis, Smiles and Collis, LLC at 614-486-3909 or you may email me at Beth@collislaw.com

Be honest when filing an application or renewal with Ohio Board of Nursing

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Beth Collis

Honesty is always the best policy when working with the Ohio Board of Nursing.

Professionals should know that before submitting information to a licensing authority the information must be accurate. Whether it is submitting the responses on an initial application for a license, or answering the questions on the bi-annual renewal of a license, the responses must be truthful.

However, I am often asked, “how will the Board know if I answer a question on my renewal application or original application incorrectly?” We never know how the Board may be notified of a violation of their laws and rules. Complaints to the Nursing Board can be anonymous, and the complainant is immune from liability (absent a finding of bad faith in their report). This means that you can be reported to the Board without your knowledge and you will never been provided with a copy of the complaint or the name of the complainant. (O.R.C. 4723.28(H) and (I)(1))

You may have a neighbor, employer or co-worker file a complaint against you with the Board alleging that you had a DUI that you failed to disclose to the Board or violated a section of the Ohio Nurse Practice Act. If you have reported this infraction on your application and/or on your renewal, it goes a long way to possibly having the investigation closed with no disciplinary action. However, if the Board goes back and pulls your application or renewal form and finds that you failed to disclose this information to the Board, the Board has the authority under O.R.C. 4723.28(A) to take an action against your license for providing false or fraudulent information to the Board.

Even without a formal complaint, the Board has the authority to open its own investigation if it learns of a violation of the Nurse Practice Act. If a Board investigator reads a news article about a nurse who has been charged with a DUI or is admitted into a diversion program by the Court, these types of actions can lead the investigator to open an investigation against the nurse. (Please note, that the nurse does not need to self report convictions or violations to the Board until the time of renewal of the license. However, on the renewal application responses need to be truthful and accurate.)

So, when applying for a license or completing a renewal application never ask yourself,”how will the Board ever find out?” The question you should ask yourself is, “what is the right answer and how can I best provide that information to the Board.”

While I encourage nurses to be honest with the Board, I always encourage the nurse to seek experienced legal counsel to assist them if they have any questions about how to respond to specific questions or if they are called to attend a meeting with a Board investigator.

As always, if you have any questions about the Ohio Board of Nursing or this post, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at Collis, Smiles and Collis at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

Do you have a prescription for that?

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Beth Collis

In most nursing positions, nurses are subjected to random, unannounced drug screens by their employer. Usually nurses are prepared to provide a drug test as a pre-condition for employment. However, once nurses have been working in a location for a while, they forget that employers may ask them to submit to a drug screen for cause (ie. if there are missing medications), when they are moved to a new unit, or just on a random basis.

If the drug test is positive for an illegal drug, the nurse may face suspension or termination from their job and the positive test result will also be reported to the Ohio Board of Nursing. However, often nurses test positive for prescription medications. If the nurse is able to provide their employer with a copy of a prescription showing that they have been prescribed the medication by their doctor, then it is not a problem. But, in many cases, nurses do not have prescriptions for medications they have taken. On occasion, nurses will take their friends’, spouse’s or kids’ medications, resulting in a positive drug screen.

Testing positive on a drug screen for a medications which has not been prescribed, may result in negative ramifications with your employment and your nursing license. The Ohio Board of Nursing regularly takes disciplinary actions against nurses who test positive for prescription medications, which have not been prescribed to them.

I recently spoke to a nurse who told me that her doctor told her to keep any old narcotic medications in her cabinet in case she or another family member might need the medication. This is improper advise. Medications can only be taken by the person who has been prescribed the medication. You can’t just keep a “stash” of prescription medications in your cabinet to be used by anyone who has access to the cabinet.

If you have left over medications, follow appropriate disposal procedures to discard the medication. Do not store unused narcotic medications in an unsecure location where other family members (including teenagers) may have access to the drugs.

Finally for nurses, if you have not been prescribed a medication, you should not ingest it as it may lead to a positive drug screen that may jeopardize your employment and license to practice as a nurse in Ohio.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel to check out my website www.collislaw.com or email me at beth@collislaw.com or call me at (614) 486-3909.

Nursing Board disciplinary actions are public and posted on the Board’s website

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Beth Collis

I am often asked by nurses, if a disciplinary action taken by the Nursing Board against their license will be available to the public. The answer is Yes. Under the Ohio Public Records law, R.C. 149.43, any official action taken by a governmental agency is a public record. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/149.43

What does this mean? Prior to the internet, to obtain a public record from a governmental agency a written request for the document was required. You can still do that today. Now, however, all Nursing Board disciplinary actions are posted on the Nursing Board’s website and are also listed in the back of the quarterly magazine Momentum, that is issued by the Nursing Board and mailed or emailed to every nurse in the state. http://www.nursing.ohio.gov/Publications.htm

To see what is listed about you or another nurse on the Board’s website, interested persons can go to the link on the Nursing Board’s website to obtain information about a particular licensee, enter their name and they will be presented with a summary list of any discipline against that nurse. A person can click on the “view documents” box (which is in bright yellow) and download the entire disciplinary record (copies of Citation letters, Consent Agreements, Adjudication Orders or any Court appeals documents). To find information go to: https://license.ohio.gov/lookup/default.asp?division=86

Now, certainly any information about a medical diagnosis or medical condition that might have formed the basis of a disciplinary action is redacted and not included in the public record? Sorry, that is not true. The documents are not redacted. All the information, including any medical diagnosis, criminal conviction, boundary violation, the factual and legal basis for the action and the disciplinary action taken against the licensee is all included in the public record on the Nursing Board’s website.

As a follow-up question, I am often asked whether the disciplinary action is taken off the website and out of the public record once the licensee completes any suspension or probation period? Unfortunately, no. Once a disciplinary action is taken, it is on the professionals’ “permanent record” and will not be sealed, removed or redacted.

The argument given for including all disciplinary actions of the Nursing Board in the public record is that consumers should be able to know if their medical professional has been the subject of discipline by the Nursing Board.

However, only proposed disciplinary actions and final actions (be it a Consent Agreement or Adjudication Order) are made public. Complaints submitted to the Nursing Board and any Board investigations are confidential. Under the Nurse Practice Act, R.C. 4723.28 (I)(1) investigations of the Nursing Board are confidential and are not open for public disclosure. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4723.28 However, this restriction also pertains to the licensee and their legal counsel. When a complaint is filed with the Nursing Board, the licensee may be notified of the general nature of the complaint, but they will not be provided with a copy of the complaint or even given the name of the person who filed the complaint. This rule however does not prevent the Nursing Board from sharing any part of their investigation with other governmental agencies, such as a police department or another Board.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or would like me to address a particular question, feel free to email me at Beth@collislaw.com or call me at 614-486-3909.

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advocating for nurses and other licensed professionals in Ohio

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