Advocacy Updates

Legislature on Recess

The Ohio Legislature adjourned for its summer recess on June 10^th. They are not expected to return for official business until after the November election. Ohio ACEP will continue to work on priority issues in preparation for their return.

Physician in the ED Bill Update

Ohio ACEP’s priority legislation, House Bill 789, had a first hearing before the House Health Committee before the summer recess. This bill would require a physician to always be on site at all emergency departments. Ohio ACEP knows physician-led care is critically important in the ED and that patients expect and deserve a physician to be on site when they present for care. Our leadership plans to continue meeting with House Health Committee members during the legislature’s break.

APN Independent Practice Update

Ohio ACEP is pleased to report that legislation to grant APNs the ability to practice without a collaboration agreement has not moved forward. However, we do expect this to continue to be a topic of debate. There are three different bills pending in the Ohio legislature that would give advanced practice nurses (APNs) a path to independent practice: Senate Bill 258,  House Bill 449, and House Bill 508. Each bill eliminates the requirement for APNs to have a collaboration agreement after they complete a certain number of clinical hours (2,000 or 5,000 hours, depending on the bill). They also allow APNs to be a “collaborating provider” to other APNs if they have completed their clinical hours and are practicing independently.

All these bills have had hearings, but HB 508 in the House Medicaid Committee has garnered the most attention. Ohio ACEP will continue to advocate strongly for physician-led care.

Medicaid Fraud Legislation

Before breaking for the summer, the legislature passed SB 315 that incorporated changes to the Medicaid program to crack down on fraud. Before legislative action, Governor DeWine issued an executive order regarding provider credentialing and authorizing Medicaid to require more frequent revalidation of Medicaid enrollment for “higher risk” providers, allowing Medicaid to terminate providers from the Medicaid rolls if they haven’t provided services for more than a year, among other things.

There had been some very controversial proposals considered during the House process, especially regarding home care delivered by family caregivers. However, those were removed, and the bill ultimately received bipartisan support, even clearing the Senate concurrence vote unanimously. Ohio ACEP had been tracking a provision regarding additional oversight for nonemergency medical transport. The final version did include a carve-out for EMFTP-licensed transportation.

Take Back Reforms Sent to Governor

Senate Bill 162 regarding insurance claim take-backs is being sent to the Governor after it garnered unanimous support from the House and concurrence by the Senate. This bill limits the time insurers have to take back claims to one year (they currently have 2 years) and increases the time given to providers to appeal a take-back to 60 days (they currently have 30 days). The bill also addresses insurers providing electronic notice of a take-back. This bill was widely supported by the healthcare provider community.   

Abuse Reporting Bill Clears House

The House of Representatives has unanimously passed House Bill 346 regarding child abuse reporting. This bill would require healthcare providers to report suspected abuse to both the police and CPS. Ohio ACEP will continue to track this legislation in the Ohio Senate.

Pharmacists Bill Clears Senate

Senate Bill 230 has passed the Ohio Senate by a vote of 31-2. This bill allows pharmacists to test and treat certain conditions, mainly respiratory illnesses. During their deliberations, the Senate Health Committee adopted a sub bill removing the ability for pharmacists to treat RSV, limiting the patients they could treat those over 5, and adding specificity to the protocols that will be crafted. The bill will now be considered by the Ohio House. Ohio ACEP had anticipated that this bill had the potential to move because of the number of supporting organizations and the fact that the concept was included in the Rural Health Transformation proposal. 

PA Bill Introduced

Representative Deeter and Craig have introduced House Bill 963 regarding physician assistants. The bill changes references from “supervision” to “collaboration” and creates what a PA collaboration agreement will look like. There is no ratio included, so a physician could collaborate with as many PAs as they’d like.

EMS Bill Sent To Governor

HB 20 which would prohibit harassing or impeding EMS and creating penalties, was sent to the Governor in the last week of session.

Want to Learn More?

If you’re interested in viewing the status of all of the bills Ohio ACEP is tracking, you can find that here.