May 2009 - Oregon
Taking License | by Kraig Bohot
Licensing and regulatory entities such as the Oregon Health Licensing Agency (OHLA) determine whether someone is qualified to practice in a particular profession.
We review an applicant’s training, education and experience to determine if the individual meets minimum qualifying standards established to practice in a particular field safely and effectively on the public.
We also determine if someone is qualified to practice on an ongoing basis through monitoring of continuing education, a requirement of all OHLA-regulated professions except for the four fields of cosmetology and body piercing.
Should we also determine whether or not someone is “fit” to practice? And if so, how do we go about determining “fitness to practice”?
While OHLA has legal authority to revoke an individual’s license to practice, that rarely occurs.
However, OHLA recently established new Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) requirements that raise questions as to how such determinations should be made.
Regarding prior or current criminal convictions, OHLA’s Regulatory Operations Division clarified that the agency will base any fitness to practice determinations on the specific conditions of an individual’s probation or parole.
If a condition of probation is that the individual is prohibited from conducting financial transactions (resulting from fraud or identify theft convictions, for example), should the individual be denied licensure for any profession that requires handling financial transactions?
Or, should conditions be imposed on the individual’s licensure prohibiting them from conducting financial transactions while practicing?
Would such a conviction necessarily prohibit an individual from collecting money for cutting someone’s hair or doing their nails?
But what if the individual isn’t on probation or parole? How does OHLA determine an applicant’s “fitness to practice”?
That’s the issue for the handful of individuals currently enrolled in the state’s Department of Corrections cosmetology program.
These individuals do not yet have any conditions of probation or parole because they are still serving time.
The goal is to prevent an individual from enrolling in the program if, upon release from prison, the condition of probation or parole would prohibit the individual from becoming certified in any of the four fields of cosmetology.
OHLA is working with the Department of Corrections and will be consulting with the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision to explore how to best determine if applicants for the program would be candidates for certification upon their release.
While OHLA’s mission is to protect the public, we also put qualified Oregonians to work.
In a continuing effort to balance the agency’s public protection mission with our goal to facilitate licensure of qualified individuals, OHLA will be reviewing how other state regulatory agencies determine fitness to practice.
“This is not something we’re doing lightly,” says OHLA Regulatory Operations Manager Tim Molloy. “We’re not trying to keep individuals from being productive members of society, but our first priority is to protect the health and safety of the public.”
Molloy has already developed a pre-approval process for applicants with criminal records by working with county probation and parole officers.
If the probation or parole officer approves the applicant as a candidate for certification, the applicant can proceed with enrolling in a state cosmetology college.
OHLA hopes to develop a similar process for prospective enrollees in the Department of Corrections cosmetology program.
Kraig Bohot is Communications Coordinator at the Oregon Health Licensing Agency (OHLA), a state consumer protection agency providing centralized regulatory oversight of multiple health and related professions. He can be reached at (503) 373-1939 or at kraig.bohot@state.or.us.
The State of Oregon recruitment for a new director of the Oregon Health Licensing Agency (OHLA) closed on May 4.
Approximately a month after the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) initiated a workplace assessment of the Oregon Health Licensing Agency in February, former OHLA Director Susan K. Wilson was dismissed in March.
Two agency managers continue on paid administrative leave. Three DAS managers are serving on an interim basis until the workplace assessment is completed.
From cutting her classmates’ hair in the third grade in Ione, Oregon, to evaluating how well the state’s cosmetology colleges conduct the practical examination as a consultant to the Oregon Health Licensing Agency (OHLA) and the Board of Cosmetology, Brenda Hoxsey’s cosmetology career has been full and varied.
At the May 11 Board of Cosmetology meeting, Hoxsey was honored for her contributions to the cosmetology field, including serving as chair of the Board of Cosmetology in the 1990s.
Hoxsey is retiring to spend more time with her family and to travel and fish among other retirement activities.
She graduated from Phagan’s Beauty College in 1962, worked as a hair designer in Pendleton and was an owner and manager at salons in Portland as well as an instructor and director of student services at Beau Monde College of Hair Design.
The National Cosmetology Association of Oregon inducted Hoxsey into the Cosmetology Hall of Fame in 1993.
“My career has been very fulfilling,” says Hoxsey, who lives in Warrenton. “I have many fond memories, have made many friends and am proud of what I’ve contributed to the development of the cosmetology profession in Oregon.”
OHLA and the Board of Cosmetology appreciate Brenda Hoxsey for her years of service and wish her well in her retirement.
Pending legislative approval, the fee for practitioner certification increases from $33 to $40 per field of practice for two-year certification, the application fee increases to $25 per field of practice and the examination fee to $50 per field of practice on July 1.
The late fee for renewing a practitioner certificate after the expiration date increases to $25 the first month in expired status and $10 a month thereafter on July 1.
Starting July 1, practitioners renewing their certification(s) on time and online at www.oregon.gov/OHLA will receive a $5 discount per field of practice.
How many practitioners and facilities are active in Oregon? (Numbers in parentheses +/- change from previous month.) According to Oregon Health Licensing Agency (OHLA) records as of May 5, 2009:
Practitioners 31,257 (+99)
Facilities 4,517 (+11)
Independent contractors 6,936 (-2)
Certificate of ID 215 (+8)
Barbering 5,543 (-17)
Esthetics 13,591 (+27)
Hair Design 21,073 (+66)
Nail Technology 14,812 (+23)
Oregon Health Licensing Agency
700 Summer Street NE, Suite 320 • Salem, OR 97301-1287
Licensing Office (503) 378-8667 • Enforcement Unit (503) 378-4294
www.oregon.gov/OHLA
OHLA Agency Staff:
Richard McNew, Administrative Services
Tim Molloy, Regulatory Operations
Dixie Bryant, Program Development
Board of Cosmetology:
Michael D. Snook, Salem - Chair
Debora Masten, Salem - Vice Chair
Linda Bergmann, Florence
Patricia A. Hall, Pendleton
Herb Hirst, North Plains
Sharon Wiser, Lake Oswego
Shelly Couch, Gladstone
