Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act signed into law

On Oct. 5, President Donald J. Trump signed the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act of 2017 into law. Under the new law, legal protections for sports medicine professionals who travel outside of their primary state of licensure to deliver medical care to athletes will be significantly improved, according to a press release from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

First introduced by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in the U.S. Senate as S. 808 and by Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Cedric Richmond (D-La.) in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 302, the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act of 2017 allows sports medicine professionals to engage in treatment of injured athletes across state lines without loss of license to practice while being protected from monetary loss with professional liability insurance, according to the release. The release also noted, if the secondary state’s licensure requirements are substantially similar to the primary state, health care services to an athlete, an athletic team or a staff member of the team provided by covered sports medicine professionals would be deemed to have occurred in the professional’s primary state of licensure.

“The passing of the national Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act is a historic day for the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, its 45,000-plus members and athletes of all levels and ages,” Tory Lindley, MA, ATC, president of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, said in the release. “While this bipartisan law advances safety practices for all sports medicine professionals, it will greatly impact athletic trainers who routinely travel with teams to provide preventative and immediate care. It recognizes, at an unprecedented level, the integral and lifesaving role athletic trainers, as well as all sports medicine professionals, play in athletic health care.”

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