TO ESTABLISH STANDARDS FOR SURGICAL SMOKE EVACUATION IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES LICENSED IN THIS STATE.

House Bill 1718 aimed to establish standards for surgical smoke evacuation in healthcare facilities licensed in Arkansas. The bill would have required any such facility using energy-generating devices to employ a smoke evacuation system during surgical procedures likely to produce surgical smoke. It defined key terms like "energy-generating device," "smoke evacuation system," and "surgical smoke" to clarify its scope. The State Board of Health and the Department of Health would have been authorized to enforce these new standards.