Last week the legislature advanced bills to:
- require health insurance companies to tell their enrollees why their claim or prior auth was denied and who to contact for an appeal (HB2130);
- require ADHS to be more transparent with complaint investigations at licensed healthcare institutions (HB2176);
- remove the requirement that opioid bottles have a ‘red cap’ because it facilitates diversion (HB2291); and
- prohibit DES from considering the vaccination status of foster families as a condition of placement.
They failed to advance a bill that would have tasked DES with asking USDA to allow them to exclude candy and soda pop from the list of foods SNAP recipients can choose (HB2165).
This week they’ll be considering bills to:
- allow parents to see all of their child’s medical records (we oppose HB2126 because of STI issues);
- include serious mental illnesses on the list of conditions that can be considered for ALTCS enrollment (they are currently excluded – we support HB2491);
- allow hospitals to transfer patients between their hospitals via ambulance by getting an expedited interfacility certificate of necessity (we support HB2124);
- allow the Sanitarian Council to expand the kinds of prerequisite college credits that qualify an applicant to take the sanitarian exam (we support HB2125);
- include preventive dental care in the current $1K AHCCCS dental benefit (we support SB1347); and
- appropriate funds to establish secure residential behavioral health facilities (we support SB1442)
