Respiratory Care Modernization Act.

SB 160, the Respiratory Care Modernization Act, updates North Carolina's laws governing respiratory care professionals to reflect current practices, especially after increased pandemic demands. It creates a new "Advanced respiratory care practitioner" (ARCP) role for licensed professionals with specialized training, allowing them to perform advanced procedures under physician supervision - while explicitly excluding medical diagnosis, prescribing, or invasive surgeries. The bill clarifies the scope of practice for both standard respiratory care practitioners and ARCPs, defining permitted tasks like mechanical ventilation support and diagnostic testing, and establishing requirements for board-approved training. This directly affects respiratory therapists seeking advanced roles, their supervising physicians, and healthcare facilities providing respiratory care services.