The deadline for bills to be reported from Senate committees was Feb. 22. The deadline for full committee action on House bills was Thursday, March 8. Bills that received a “Do Pass” recommendation from committee will be considered by the full Senate or House (General Order). Bills that were held in committee without a hearing may be considered in the 2008 session of the legislature. The deadlines for the remainder of the legislative session are:

• Thursday, March 15 – deadline for bills to be considered in the house of introduction (third reading)
• Thursday, April 5 – deadline for bills to be considered in Senate committees and House subcommittees
• Thursday, April 19 – deadline for bills to be considered in the full House committees
• Thursday, April 26 – deadline for bills to be considered in the opposite house
• Adjournment – Friday, May 25

Lawsuit Reform

At this time it appears that there may be movement on lawsuit reform. While there are several vehicles in the Senate and House the final bill will most likely be a Senate bill. Sen. Susan Paddack is married to a medical doctor from Ada and Rep. Doug Cox is the only medical doctor in the legislature. Sen. Jim Williamson is the Senate Co Chair of the Judiciary Committee and is working with the coalition on lawsuit reform along with Rep. Dan Sullivan an attorney that has experience defending hospitals.

SB 824 – Sen. Susan Paddack and Rep. Doug Cox, is a work in progress that at this time primarily addresses medical liability reform. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 930 – Sen. Susan Paddack, Sen. Glenn Coffee and Rep. Doug Cox, authorizes the State Health Department to enter into agreements with health care providers that provide charity care to medically indigent persons and inmates or detainees in the custody of law enforcement for services rendered gratuitously. Providers in this category will come under the limits of the Governmental Tort Claims Act. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 1024 – Sen. Owen Laughlin and Rep. John Trebilcock, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee after heated debate. The bill is intended to protect teachers against lawsuits and is of interest because it is a vehicle for tort reform. Status: General Order in the Senate.

HB 1475 – Rep. Doug Cox and Sen. Jim Williamson, excludes medical liability actions related to pregnancy, labor or delivery, emergency care services from the noneconomic damages cap of $300,000. The measure expands the scope of limitation to apply to all medical liability actions. Currently under the Affordable Access to Health Care Act the $300,000 cap only applies to cases originating in the emergency room and OB cases. Status: General Order in the House.

HB 1620 - Rep. Rob Johnson and Sen. Jim Williamson, allows parties to obtain a stay of the enforcement of a judgment, decree or final order if an appeal has commenced or is pending in any court in or outside of the state and modifies bond requirements related to such a stay. The measure also limits the plaintiff to only be liable for its proportionate share of damages, excluding criminal cases, and limits non economic damages in civil suits. It also limits the liability of educational entities and education employees. Status: General Order in the House.

HB 1886 - Rep. Daniel Sullivan and Sen. Jim Williamson, is comprehensive legislation that addresses business as well as medical liability reform. Status: General Order in the House.

Professions

SB 55 – Physician Tax Credit – Sen. Patrick Anderson and Rep. James Covey, provides an income tax credit to primary care physicians, licensed in Oklahoma and serving in municipalities outside of Oklahoma City and Tulsa and whose population is less than 20,000. The credit would be limited to $5,000 each year for a maximum five years. Status: Passed the Senate.

HB 1464 – Oklahoma Medical Loan Repayment Program – by Rep. Earl Sears and Sen. Todd Lamb, creates the program to provide educational loan repayment assistance for up to five licensed pediatric specialists, including child psychiatrists, per year. Status: Passed the House.

HB 1647 – Radiologist Assistants – by Rep. Pam Peterson and Sen. Jim Williamson, permits radiologists to use the services of a radiologist assistant to work under the supervision of a radiologist licensed in Oklahoma. The Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision shall promulgate rules based on the guidelines of the American College of Radiology, the American Society of Radiology Technologists and the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. Status: Held in House Committee – may be considered in the 2008 session.

HB 1830 – Oklahoma Geriatric Medical Loan Repayment Program – by Rep. Ryan Kiesel, creates the program and directs the State Department of Health to manage the program, to provide educational loan repayment assistance for up to five Oklahoma licensed physicians per year who have completed a fellowship training program in geriatrics, including geropsychiatry. The awards, depending on the available funds, will be up to $25,000 per year for a five-year period. Status: General Order in the House.

Medicaid

SB 424 – All Kids Act – by Sen. Tom Adelson, creates the “All Kids Act” to require the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to establish a program to provide health insurance to children 18 years of age and younger whose family income is between 185 percent and 300 percent of the poverty level. Status: Passed the Senate.

SCR 6 – SCHIP – Sen. Brian Crain, requests from Congress the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program by Concurrent Resolution. Status: Passed the Senate.

HB 1036 – Kidney Disease – by Rep. Marian Cooksey and Sen. Todd Lamb, provides evaluation and treatment services to Medicaid patients for chronic kidney disease and requires tracking of cost savings for appropriate diagnostic testing. Status: Passed the House.

HB 1303 – Balance Billing – by Rep. John Enns and Sen. Tom Adelson, provides that payment for services to Medicaid patients to providers shall be considered payment in full with the exclusion of co-pays. This provision does not apply to the Employer/Employee Partnership for Insurance Coverage Premium Assistance Program (O-EPIC) program. Status: Passed the House.

HB 1747 – O-EPIC Expansion – by Rep. Chuck Hoskin and Sen. Sean Burrage, modifies language related to the Oklahoma Medicaid Program Reform Act of 2003, requiring employees eligible for the Employer/Employee Partnership for Insurance Coverage Premium Assistance Program (O-EPIC) have a household income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Status: General Order in the House.

HB 1931 – OHCA Board – by Rep. Kris Steele and Sen. Tom Adelson, modifies terms from four to seven years for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority board. Status: Passed the House.

Insurance and OSEEGIB

SB 14 – Colorectal Cancer Screening – by Sen. Debbe Leftwich and Rep. Ann Coody, requires health benefit plans that provide medical and surgical benefits, beginning Jan. 1, 2008, to provide coverage for colorectal cancer examinations and laboratory tests for cancer for any nonsymptomatic covered individual who is at least 50 years of age or who is less than 50 years of age and at high risk for colorectal cancer according to the standard, accepted published medical practice guidelines. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 560 – Clean Claims – by Sen. John Sparks and Rep. Daniel Sullivan, adds “health care provider” to the list of entities that shall be notified within 30 calendar days after the receipt of the claim if the submitted claim has defects. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 690 – Task Force on Teachers’ Health Insurance – by Sen. Clark Jolley, creates a 12-member task force until Dec. 31, 2007, to study all aspects of health insurance coverage for teachers. Status: Passed the Senate.

HB 1674 – OSEEGIB – Flexible Benefits – by Rep. Todd Thomsen and Sen.Todd Lamb, modifies language relating to the application of flexible benefit allowances for school district employees under the Larry Dickerson Education Flexible Benefits Allowance Act. Status: Passed the House.

HB 1928 – Health Savings Accounts – by Rep. Kris Steele and Sen. Brian Crain, modifies the Health Savings Account Act by making the maximum contribution allowable equal to that allowed by the Internal Revenue Code. It also modifies provisions governing the treatment of interest regarding the Oklahoma Income Tax Act. It directs the Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board to make the accounts available to eligible employees. Status: General Order in the House.

HB 1959 – Worker’s Compensation – by Rep. Ron Peterson, authorizes CompSource Oklahoma to contract with companies to insure employers operating in Oklahoma and their employees who may work exclusively outside the state. Status: Passed the House.

HB 1961 – Uninsured Motorist Coverage – by Rep. Ron Peterson, amends the uninsured motorist coverage statute that provides that a named insured or an applicant having the right to reject uninsured motorist coverage in writing. The form remains valid for the life of the policy and any changes to an existing policy to not create a new policy. The bill also states that in cases of civil action involving a vehicle accident, uninsured plaintiffs or claimants are limited to seeking medical costs, property damage or lost income against another party. Status: Passed the House.

HCR 1010 – Core Health Benefit Task Force – by Rep. Ron Peterson, creates a 12-member task force to develop recommendations concerning minimum standards for a core benefit plan. Status: General Order in the House Committee.

HCR 1012 – Task Force on Pharmacy Benefit Management Services – by Rep. Wes Hilliard, creates a 12-member task force until Feb. 1, 2008, to study and make recommendations regarding the need for state regulation of the contractual relationships between pharmacy benefit management companies and the public and private sector entities that purchase their services. The measure requires the Task Force to publish a report of findings and recommendations by Feb. 1, 2008, including recommendations for any resulting legislation. Status: General Order in the House.

Hospitals

SB 133 – Carbon Monoxide Detectors – Sen. Richard C. Lerblance and Rep. Terry Harrison, requires the installation of approved carbon monoxide detectors in any building structure used as a hospital, church, theater, hotel, motel, apartment house, rooming house, dormitory, rest home, nursing home, day nursery, convalescent home, auditorium, or child care institution. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 139 – Cord Blood Bank – Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, directs the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, in collaboration with the commissioner of health, to establish and maintain a public umbilical cord blood bank for collecting and storing umbilical cord blood and placental tissue donated by maternity patients. Sen. Gumm is requesting an appropriation of $3 million for start-up costs. HB 1896 – Rep. Rebecca Hamilton, requests a $3 million appropriation. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 156 – Hospitals Self-Help Act – Sen. Owen Laughlin creates the Act for the establishment of health care districts to promote efficient administration of health care service delivery. Health care districts may be established by local communities and tax dollars may be received for the benefit of hospitals and health care services. Tax dollars could be Medicaid-matched to fund appropriate services. At this time the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has not approved similar proposals. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 163 – Open Meetings Act – Sen. Owen Laughlin amends the definition of "public body" for purposes of the Open Meeting Act. It amends the definition of "meeting" to exclude informal gatherings of a majority of members of a public body when no business of that body is being discussed. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 486 – Advance Directive Registry – Sen. Todd Lamb and Rep. Colby Schwartz, requires the State Board of Health to establish and maintain an advance directives registry. The advance directives will be accessible by the person who executed the advance directive and any person related within the second degree to the person who executed it or a health care provider caring for the person who executed it. The bill also directs the State Board of Health to maintain a Web site of advance directive forms that may be downloaded for printing and word processing programs. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 512 – Liens – Sen. David Myers, Rep. Ken Luttrell, authorizes liens for medical claims be placed on medical diagnostic imaging facilities not affiliated with a hospital that provides diagnostic imaging including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 531 – EMS – by Sen. Patrick Anderson, clarifies language related to the Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development Act and defines “Emergency Medical Dispatch,” “Medical Emergency Resource Center,” and “Regional Medical Response System.” The measure creates an Oklahoma Emergency Response Systems Development Revolving Fund. Status: Passed the Senate.

SB 639 – Preparedness – Sen. Randy Bass, Rep. Doug Cox, R-Grove, allows the Department of Health to maintain public health infrastructure and preparedness by entering into contracts for professional services with health-related or other professionals who have retired from state service. Status: General Order in the Senate.

SB 714 – Abortion Prohibitions – Sen. James Williamson and Rep. John A. Wright, makes it unlawful for public entities to perform or assist in an abortion that is not necessary to save the life of the mother. It prohibits the use of a public institution, public facility, public equipment or other physical asset owned, leased or controlled by the state or an agency or political subdivisions for the purpose of performing or assisting an abortion not necessary to save the life of the mother. The measure makes it unlawful for any funds received or controlled by the state or political subdivision, including funds derived from federal, state or local taxes, gifts or grants, from any source, public or private, federal grants or payments or intergovernmental transfers, to be used to encourage or counsel a woman to have an abortion not necessary to save her life. Status: General Order in the Senate.

HB 1375 – Transfer Agreements – Rep. Colby Schwartz, amends a health department rule, which has the effect of law, to provide that an ambulatory surgical center shall have a formal transfer agreement with a general hospital, or all physicians performing surgery in the ambulatory surgical center shall have admitting privileges at a general hospital, located not more than 20 minutes away. OHA has concerns with this legislation and are in discussion with the bill’s proponents. Status: Passed the House.

HB 1615 – EMS – Rep. Paul D. Roan, creates an Emergency Medical Systems Revolving Fund within the Department of Health and directs the commissioner of health to administer medical emergency response centers; directs the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education to develop and maintain a comprehensive statewide emergency medical technician (EMT) training program; grants tuition reimbursement for EMTs who complete advanced training and work at least 1,000 hours each year for two years for a licensed or certified emergency medical service provider; creates a line-of-duty death benefit for EMTs; and establishes a $400 tax credit for EMTs who serve at least 1,000 hours with a state-licensed or certified emergency medical service provider. Status: Passed the House.

HB 1884 – Hospital Pricing – Rep. Lance Cargill and Sen. Todd Lamb creates the nineteen-member Healthcare Consumer Transparency Task Force to make recommendations related to a system for hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and physicians to disclose to consumers the average charges for the treatment of common medical diagnosis and procedures. Status: General Order in the House.

HB 1888 – Tax Deduction – Health Care – Rep. Richard Morrissette, provides an income tax deduction, beginning in tax year 2008, for inpatient hospital care up to $50,000 in a calendar year, doctor visits, prescription medication up to $2,000 in a calendar year and rehabilitative care, nursing home care and home health care, each not to exceed $20,000 in a calendar year. Status: General Order in the House.