Several pieces of legislation impacting hospitals were acted upon during the week of Oct.11. In the Senate, votes were taken on legislation to establish a grant program for emergency department-based medication assisted treatment (MAT). In the House, an MHA-supported bill on pharmacy wholesale distributors was reported from committee, and testimony was taken on an MHA-supported bill on background checks and a new package of Certificate of Need (CON) bills.
Senate Bill (SB) 579, which would establish an opt-out grant program for hospitals to establish emergency department-based MAT programs, was reported from committee and passed unanimously by the full Senate. SB 579 was introduced by Sen. Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington) and is supported by the MHA. The Senate Health Policy and Human Services Committee also approved several mental health jail diversion and transportation bills.
In the House Health Policy Committee, members voted to report the pharmacy wholesale distributors bill to the House floor. House Bill (HB) 5072 was introduced by Rep. Ryan Berman (R-Commerce Township) and is a state-level effort to exempt hospitals and other healthcare entities that are under common control from a medication distribution threshold that currently requires registration as wholesalers. The MHA supports the bill, as it would remove the requirement for additional paperwork for hospital pharmacies..
The House Health Policy Committee also took testimony on a new package of CON bills that make no substantive changes to covered services. HBs 5074, 5075, 5076 and 5077 would require CON Commission reports and minutes to be posted online in a timely fashion. The package would also require the Legislature’s Joint Legislative Committee that oversees CON activities to meet annually and review the report. The MHA has confirmed that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services does not expect the bills to hinder the success of the program.
Another MHA-supported bill was discussed in the House Judiciary Committee. HB 5358, introduced by Rep. Graham Filler (R-Dewitt), would ensure employers have access to general information for background checks. Information like birthdates is important to ensure the identity of people in certain court-related documents and maintain efficient turnaround times for necessary background checks
Members with questions on state healthcare legislation may contact Adam Carlson at the MHA.