KS lawmakers seek to defund inquiries of board probing senator who touts unproven COVID treatments
Kansas lawmakers have advanced a plan to defund state investigations of physicians who prescribe drugs for off-label uses after its lead supporter said he wanted the change because a doctor in the state Senate is under scrutiny.
Sen. Mark Steffen, an anesthesiologist, said last week he has been under investigation by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts for more than a year. The Hutchinson Republican also acknowledged prescribing the anti-parasite drug ivermectin, an unproven treatment for COVID-19, though he said the investigation centers on his public comments.
On Tuesday, the House Higher Education Budget Committee adopted an amendment to the board budget that would stop the agency from spending any money on investigations or discipline against physicians who prescribe drugs for unintended uses to treat infectious diseases.
Rep. Jesse Burris, a Mulvane Republican who proposed the provision, didn’t name Steffen but said the amendment was based “on a story recently done about the senator, I believe, from Hutchinson who is being investigated by the board.”
Burris also said the board is investigating the personal physician of a colleague in the House. He offered no further details.
“I’m very concerned that the board is unfairly targeting certain physicians,” Burris told the committee, adding that he wants to ensure the board isn’t intimidating physicians or hamstringing them.
Steffen himself is supporting a bill in the Senate that would require a review of any actions taken by the board against physicians who prescribed unproven COVID-19 those treatments, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, since March 2020. It would also require pharmacists to fill prescriptions for those drugs when they’re used to treat the virus. The bill remains in committee.
The two proposals together represent a remarkable attempt by lawmakers to wield the legislative process to disrupt or shut down investigations by a state board while it is looking into a senator.
It’s uncertain whether the measures would eliminate scrutiny of Steffen. If the investigation is in fact limited to his public comments, then the proposed changes to the board probably wouldn’t disrupt the inquiry.
Still, an ethics expert said the proposals raise ethical red flags.
“Legislators are not elected to represent themselves. They are elected to represent the people that elected them,” said Beth Rotman, money in politics and ethics program director at Common Cause, a national group that promotes government accountability.
Self-interested legislation has no place in American democracy, Rotman said.
In a phone call, Steffen laughed when a reporter asked him to respond to criticism that he was using his power as a senator to help himself.
He said he wasn’t aware of Burris’s proposal until Thursday morning but applauded the action. He said he didn’t know how the action would impact his own investigation but said he hoped for an open hearing with the board.
“I do congratulate those folks for taking on an issue and trying to help with a rogue Board of Healing Arts that is causing more trouble than they’re preventing,” Steffen said.
He said his support of the Senate legislation had nothing to do with the investigation against him but rather a belief that off-label medications, which the FDA has said don’t work on COVID-19, are lifesaving.
“(The Senate) bill is about preventing suffering and death,” he said.
The bill would also make Steffen’s efforts to prescribe ivermectin easier. He said Thursday that he had been prescribing the medication but had struggled to find pharmacists in his home town of Hutchinson to fill it.
Burris didn’t respond to a call on Thursday.
‘Ethically dubious’
The House Higher Education Budget Committee voted Tuesday to send the Board of Healing Arts budget, with Burris’ amendment, to the full House Appropriations Committee. The chairwoman, Rep. Susan Humphries, cast the tie-breaking vote.
Humphries, a Wichita Republican, said she was not aware of the Steffen investigation when discussions started. She acknowledged that the issue may be be best resolved in legislation outside the state budget, like the Senate bill.
“I broke the tie and I voted yes because just shedding a little bit of light on this issue, I think that was a good thing,” Humphries said.
“The Board of Healing arts, it appears, is making a political statement,” she said. “Ivermectin is a political issue … If they’re making a political statement should we have a political response? I’m not sure.”
Rep. Troy Waymaster, a Bunker Hill Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, declined to comment through an aide. His committee will review the proposal Monday.
“We’ll see what the actions are in Appropriations again. More information, more detail, more rationale will have to happen first,” House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said when asked if he had ethical concerns with the proposal.
The Board of Healing Arts licenses physicians and has 15 members, including 12 physicians and three members of the public, all appointed by the governor. Investigations are conducted by professional staff.
The board has previously declined to comment on the investigation of Steffen and didn’t immediately respond to a message Thursday.
Rep. Jason Probst, a Hutchinson Democrat, said a budget committee focused on higher education was not qualified to deal with the question of off-label medications. He called Steffen’s actions “ethically dubious.”
“It’s certainly getting more traction than it deserves,” Probst said.
As the proposal heads to the Appropriations Committee, Rep. John Eplee, an Atchison Republican and practicing physician, said the proposal and the Senate bill would be detrimental to the board’s role.
“I think we need to do a better job of educating the members of our House on how the Board of Healing Arts works and why there are those types of checks and balances not only on off-label medication but other regulatory activities that the board provides for physicians,” Eplee said.
