The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 26 : Professions and Occupations

Chapter 085 : Midwives

• § 4185. Director; duties

  (a) The Director shall:

  (1) provide general information to applicants for licensure as midwives;

  (2) explain appeal procedures to licensed midwives and applicants and complaint procedures to the public;

  (3) administer fees as established by law;

  (4) receive applications for licensure, administer examinations, provide licenses to applicants qualified under this chapter, renew, revoke, and reinstate licenses as ordered by an administrative law officer; and

  (5) refer all disciplinary matters to an administrative law officer.

  (b)(1) The Director shall adopt general rules necessary to perform his or her duties under this chapter, maintain and make available a list of approved programs for continuing education and, by January 1, 2001, in consultation with the Commissioner of Health, the Vermont Medical Society, and the Vermont chapter of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, adopt specific rules defining the scope and practice standards, including risk-assessment criteria, based at a minimum, on the practice standards of the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), and defining a protocol and formulary for drug use by licensed midwives, including anti-hemorrhagic drugs and oxygen.

  (2)(A) Once initially established by rule, the formulary for medication use by licensed midwives, including anti-hemorrhagic agents and oxygen, shall be updated by the Director as necessary, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Health and notwithstanding the provisions of 3 V.S.A. chapter 25.

  (B) The Director shall update the protocol and formulary in consultation with the Commissioner of Health or designee, the Vermont Midwives Association, the Vermont Medical Society, and the Vermont chapter of the American College of Nurse-Midwives to ensure licensed midwives have available those medications deemed necessary to maintain best practice standards and deemed necessary for licensed midwives to provide prenatal and postpartum care consistent with accepted and prevailing standards of care for mothers and their babies.

  (c)(1) The Director shall appoint an advisory committee to study and report to the Director and to the Commissioner of Health on matters relating to midwifery, including recommendations if necessary for revisions to the administrative rules. The Committee shall focus on improving communication and collaboration among birth providers.

  (2) The Committee shall be composed of at least six members: three midwives licensed under this chapter, two physicians licensed by the Board of Medical Practice or the Board of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, and one advanced practice registered nurse midwife licensed by the Board of Nursing.

  (3) Members of the Committee shall be entitled to compensation at the rate provided in 32 V.S.A. § 1010. (Added 1999, No. 133 (Adj. Sess.), § 44, eff. Jan. 1, 2001; amended 2007, No. 29, § 68; 2013, No. 138 (Adj. Sess.), § 47; 2019, No. 178 (Adj. Sess.), § 21, eff. Oct. 1, 2020.)