U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie said his Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act would offer legal protection when sports medicine professionals cross state lines to assist their teams. A local doctor who works in sports medicine concurred with Guthrie’s assessment.

Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, said Tuesday that the legislation is one of several bills being pursued in the U.S. House that wasn’t approved during the last Congress.

The legislation, House Resolution 302, was approved on a voice vote Monday in the House and now heads to the U.S. Senate.

Guthrie said the bill originated from a discussion with Dr. Alan Moore, an Alabama emergency room physician whom Guthrie knows.

Moore traveled from Auburn, Ala., to Pasadena, Calif., with the Auburn University football team when it played several years ago in the Rose Bowl.

The emergency physician’s California trip revealed the possible tenuous legal circumstance he would be in if his services were needed. The circumstance didn’t occur, but it could have, Guthrie said.

Later, Guthrie said a medical group in the Washington area approached him and voiced similar concerns about the liability of sports medicine professionals crossing state lines.

“I have had those situations,” Dr. Craig Beard of Western Kentucky Orthopaedic Neurosurgical Associates in Bowling Green said Monday. “I used to take care of Western Kentucky University sports 25 years ago and travel from state to state was a vague area of liability.”

Guthrie’s bill would protect providers, Beard said. Out-of-state travel in the past has meant contacting a local physician and working under his umbrella. If medical attention was needed, the local physician would be in charge with the visiting physician assisting.

“This was a loophole that Brett was sharp enough to help close,” Beard said.

Guthrie said many states don’t offer legal protection to sports medicine professionals who work with high school, college and professional sports teams when they cross state lines with their teams.

The legislation would ensure these professionals are covered under medical liability insurance when they travel with their teams.

“Because of the nature of sports medicine professionals’ jobs, they often lack legal protection when they travel with their teams,” Guthrie said.

U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Tompkinsville, also voted for H.R. 302.

“I was proud to support the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act,” Comer said in an email to the newspaper.

“It is common-sense legislation that provides protection for trainers and medical support staff who travel with athletes across state lines. This bill particularly helps high school and college athletes in Kentucky who travel to Tennessee and other states, and I applaud Congressman Guthrie for its passage,” Comer said.

A spokesman for WKU’s athletic department also praised the idea of Guthrie’s bill.

“While this has not been an issue for WKU, we appreciate Representative Guthrie’s efforts to provide protection for the medical professionals who are essential to the safety and well-being of student-athletes across the country,” Kyle Neaves, WKU sports assistant director, said in an email to the newspaper.

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