By Chris Nuland, FSPS Counsel
The 2017 Legislative Season is in full swing, with both the House and Senate completing the second week of Committee hearings this week. While few bills were actually acted upon, battle lines have begun to form on numerous issues of interest to physicians.
For instance, we have already received commitments from legislators to file our legislation to better regulate medical spas, and bills have already been filed that would prohibit insurers from removing drugs from a formulary in the middle of a contract year (HB 95 and SB 182) and place strict limits on any retroactive denials (SB 102). While Scope of Practice bills have yet to be filed, intelligence suggests that ARNPs and optometrists both will be seeking significant expansions in the coming Session.
I am pleased to report that Recovery Care Center legislation has already been filed in the House (HB 145) and Senate (SB 222). Your lobbying team has already met with the Speaker’s Office and the Chair of the Senate Health Policy Committee, and we look forward to working with both to advance this legislation.
The Legislature will not meet next week, as many members will be headed to Washington, DC for Inaugural activities, but both Chambers will hold hearings three weeks in February in preparation for the March 7 opening of the official 2017 Legislative Session.