Alaska proposes first licensing rules for respiratory therapists, with a $350 first-license cost

The state Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing on Sunday proposed its first rules for licensing respiratory care practitioners. A first license would cost $350, and new applicants would need a registered respiratory therapist credential from the National Board of Respiratory Care.

The rules carry out a state law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. People already practicing the day before the law takes effect may keep working unlicensed for up to a year. Beginning Jan. 1, 2028, no one may practice respiratory care in Alaska without a state license, according to the division's implementation page.

The law makes unlicensed practice a class B misdemeanor. It exempts students, people working under another license, military and federal-facility personnel, and some workers in labs, physician offices, clinics and outpatient facilities who work under a physician's direction.

The proposed fee rule sets a $150 nonrefundable application fee, a $200 license fee for the first two-year period and a $200 renewal fee every two years. The division says national certification costs $190 and the cost of continuing education is unknown. State law requires licensees to pay the full cost of regulating their profession. At a House Finance Committee hearing April 21, division Director Sylvan Robb estimated that for similar-sized professions without a licensing board, "the cost for licensure are somewhere between $100 and $325 for a 2-year period."

The proposed practice rules would require 20 hours of continuing education and a current national credential at each renewal. The department would audit renewals, and licensees would have to follow the American Association for Respiratory Care ethics statement.

Under the law, people employed in Alaska under a physician's direction on or before Jan. 1, 2027, who apply within a year may be licensed and renew without the national certification.

Alaska is the only state that does not license respiratory care practitioners, according to a sponsor statement from Reps. Zack Fields and Carolyn Hall. Alaska News covered the House Finance hearing on their standalone bill April 22. The Senate Labor and Commerce Committee later added the program to a health care compacts bill, which became law June 22 without the governor's signature.

Written comments are due by 4:30 pm Nov. 23 through the licensing rules notice. Adopted rules take effect 30 days after the lieutenant governor files them.