Senate Bill 1547 passed the Senate unanimously despite a lengthy list of opponents, including the Oregon Medical Association. It adds a training regimen for non-physicians if they wish to be authorized to approve a youth athlete to return to play after a head injury.
Recent polling by the Oregon Health Authority finds more and more physicians are taking the plunge, while the Oregon Medical Association seeks to redefine its role.
The spending by doctors groups, nurses, hospitals, dentists and insurers helps underwrite legislators’ campaigns, as political action committees seek to influence legislation and the state budget in Oregon. Groups that gave less have had considerably less clout in Salem.