This Week is the Last Opportunity for Bills to Get a Hearing in their House of Origin: Packed Agendas on Tap

This week is the final opportunity for bills to be heard in committee in their house of origin. Those that don’t make it through next week will likely be dead – although they could emerge as a strike amendment later. We’ve taken positions on the bills highlighted in Bold. I’ve asked to speak at the podium in committee on the bills related to behavioral health. Brief descriptions of each bill follow the graphs below:

HB2035 – Insurance Appeals, Credentialing – Support – This good bill sets up reasonable timeframes for when a health care insurer denies a health care service claim. Some insurers are not paying providers in a prompt way affecting their ability to care for patients. The bill also provides an appeal process with the Office of Administrative Hearings if their claim denial grievance is unresolved. Another good thing about the bill is that it will force insurers to finish provider credentialing from 100 to 45 calendar days. Some insurers aren’t credentialing providers promptly, also impacting care.

HB2502 & 2503 – SNAP Administration – Oppose: 2502 Unnecessarily requires ADES to require able-bodied adults under 60 to participate in a mandatory employment and training program to participate in SNAP unless the person meets the exempt criteria. Bill creates unnecessary bureaucracy with no proven return on investment and may be harmful to SDOH. 2503 Prohibits ADES from asking for a waiver for SNAP work requirements if 2502 becomes law.

HB2653 – Long Term Care Reporting – Monitoring – Support – Provides more accountability among long term care facilities including required reporting by the facility of abuse and neglect, reporting to Adult Protective Services and allowing for electronic monitoring in facilities with restrictions.

SB1100 – State Hospital, Private Entity – Neutral. Requires ADHS to go out to bid to private entities to run the Arizona State Hospital. Allows the department wide latitude to reject bids. ASH needs better governance but SB1688 is a better solution.

SB1407 – Employers, vaccines – Oppose – Requires employers who ask their staff to get the Hepatitis A&B, influenza or COVID vaccines to accept religious exemptions from their policy. Health care institutions are unable to question or reject the religious exemption. Bad for infection control at healthcare institutions.

SB1508 – Vulnerable Adult Care – Support – Establishes a study committee to examine safety net services and requirements to keep vulnerable adults safe. Has no authority, but the recommendations may be helpful in crafting future administrative and regulatory requirements.

SB1570 – Psychedelic Mushrooms – Support – Requires ADHS to license psychedelic mushroom therapy centers. Emerging evidence suggests these therapies can be helpful for some patients.

SB1585 – Service Provider Reimbursement – Support – Increases salaries for persons providing home and community-based services for folks with developmental disabilities. Still would need to be built into the budget.

SB1655 – Behavioral Health Group Homes – Support – Better regulates and provides added resident safeguards at licensed behavioral health group homes.

SB1678 – Secure Residential Behavioral Health Facilities – Support – Makes it clear that Secure residential behavioral health facilities (which don’t physically exist yet) are solely for persons receiving court ordered treatment.

SB1682 – State Hospital Admissions – Support – Makes it clear that the AZ State Hospital can’t consider county of residence when considering admissions. The Arnold v Sarn settlement agreement stipulates that ASH will only admit 55 persons from Maricopa County. This stipulation is harmful – as Arizona already has a dearth of secure settings for court ordered treatment for psychiatric illnesses.

SB1688 – State Hospital Governing Board – Support – Extracts the Arizona State Hospital from the ADHS. Establishes a badly needed independent governing board to be responsible for running the Arizona State Hospital. ASH Superintendent would report to the Board rather than the ADHS director. ADHS would then be free to regulate ASH without a conflict of interest. See: Fixing the Governance Flaw at Our Arizona State Hospital: A Primer