Kentucky lawmakers are revisiting language in a 24-year-old law that deals with automatic external defibrillators, or AEDs, to make the life-saving devices more accessible.

A year ago, viewers across the U.S. saw the power of an AED when it was used during a Monday Night Football game to save the life of a player.

House Bill 22, from Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown, seeks to amend part of the existing AED law.

The portion of the law not under revision provides immunity protection for AED users, known as a Good Samaritan Law. The portion targeted by HB22 deals with the required medical oversight of an AED by a licensed physician.

That’s the part of the law that may have kept small businesses and the public in Kentucky from more easily obtaining the devices for the last 24 years.

Questions about original law

Then-Rep. Jack Coleman, D-Harrodsburg, proposed House Bill 49, the original AED law, in the 2000 legislative session. AEDs were mostly known then as medical devices used in hospitals and ambulances.

AEDs are a Class-3 medical device, the highest grade, which means the highest regulatory burden under federal requirements. That’s likely why, sports medicine experts told The Courier Journal, the original law was put in place with physician oversight.

The late Rep. Bob DeWeese, R-Louisville, questioned the medical oversight during a 2000 House Health and Welfare Committee hearing.

“Who is responsible for choosing that physician? Who funds this program?” DeWeese asked, hitting on two questions still pertinent today.

According to legislators and sports medicine experts recently interviewed by The Courier Journal, the physician language is now considered antiquated.

Athletic trainers, school nurses help schools meet law

A separate 2023 bill passed by the Kentucky legislature requires AEDs in schools, as funding becomes available.

To comply with that law, Scott County athletic director DT Wells received a quote for an AED that included a $3,000 charge just for physician oversight.

“That’s $3,000 that could be invested instead in another AED,” Wells testified in January to the House’s Small Business & Information Technology Committee.

Scott County Schools declined to speak further with The Courier Journal about House Bill 22’s potential impact on schools.

A recent assessment by the Kentucky Department of Education shows more than 3,000 AEDs are in Kentucky public education settings.

Several schools contacted by The Courier Journal said they comply with the law by having their school nurse or athletic trainer, who reports to a physician, oversee maintenance.

At least one AED company isn’t against the changes the new bill could bring.

“The way the law is currently written, it makes another reason why somebody won’t buy an AED and put it in a public place,” said AJ Pace, senior vice president of operations for Defibtech.

Currently, at least one-third of states have laws requiring medical oversight of AEDs, Pace said.

‘I should have checked before I ordered it’

As the CEO of a broadband cooperative that serves South Central Kentucky, Greg Hale deals regularly with regulations, especially from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

“I’ve had regulations and laws beaten in my head for 30 years,” he said from his office in Logan County.

One of OSHA’s requirements for the broadband industry is to train employees in CPR every two years. That safety training includes AEDs. In January 2020, the co-op, LTC Connect, purchased an AED for about $1,300.

“We took that step, and then it was, ‘Let’s deploy it,’” Hale said

Safer Sidelines The Courier Journal spent several months investigating sudden death in high school sports.

That’s when he learned about the unexpected cost of physician oversight. That oversight includes training and maintenance requirements, as well as the physician working with the AED site to establish protocols for the device’s use.

“I should have checked before I ordered it,” he said of the state regulation. “But no one knew, not even our safety trainers.”

Hale said as the chair of the legislative committee of the Kentucky Rural Broadband Association, he tried to bring the issue to legislators and got nowhere.

Then, in January, Hale read an article in The Courier Journal about AEDs and sent an email.

“I think one hindrance in Kentucky is the Medical Oversight requirement,” Hale wrote to the newspaper. “It can be expensive to have a medical professional have oversight of the AED program for a small business that might want to purchase an AED, if you can even find a medical professional to help you.”

The Courier Journal took the concerns from Hale and more than a dozen sports medicine professionals regarding the physician oversight of an AED to the American Heart Association, who took them to Pratt.

House Bill 22 includes training and maintenance requirements but without physician oversight. The bill quickly passed through the House unopposed and is waiting to be assigned to a Senate committee.

For Hale, this year could be the year the AED that has sat in a cabinet in his office for four years may finally hang in the office lobby, which sits about 13 miles from the nearest hospital in Russellville.

Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. She can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her for updates at @stephkuzy.