Post for Week of April 1st

Capitol Report for April 1st

 

The Missouri House returned this week from the annual Spring Break.  To date the House has seen more than 1,500 bills filed with nearly 450 House Bills already receiving committee approval. At this time the House has approved and sent to the Senate more than 150 bills, and so far only one of the bills has received final approval. The number of bills sent to the Senate is a significant increase from last session when the House had approved just more than 90 bills entering the break.  This high volume of bills moving through the process means all legislators will have a heavy workload from now until the end of session.

 

We passed two bills which I feel will have a direct impact on improving health care for all Missourians.  I will share a summary of these two bills from the House communications office.

 

House Approves “Step Therapy” Measure to Improve Access to Vital Medications (HB 2029)

 

Missourians with chronic illnesses would have better access to the medications they need under legislation approved by the Missouri House this week. The legislation is designed to prevent redundant “step therapy” so that patients who switch health insurance benefits are not forced to try medications that have already proven to be ineffective before being allowed to use medication that works.

 

The legislation approved by the House simply ensures that a patient will not have to go through the process of trying multiple medications again simply because of an insurance change. In effect, it makes it so the medicine prescribed by the patient’s doctor is the medicine the patient is allowed to take.

 

The legislation received overwhelming bipartisan support and is now on its way to the Senate for consideration.

 

 

Expanding Access to Health Care (HB 1923)

 

The Missouri House approved legislation this week designed to modernize health care in Missouri, and improve the level of care provided by the state’s system of Medicaid. The legislation brings telehealth services in Missouri into state statute and works to bring greater access to health care to Missourians in rural and underserved areas. 

 

The bill would update Missouri’s laws on Medicaid reimbursement in regard to telehealth services so that more health care professionals could provide telehealth care to Medicaid recipients. Supporters of the bill say it is an important change that will allow patients to receive care without having to travel long distances. They noted the change could also result in a significant cost savings. In 2015 the state’s Medicaid program allocated more than $40 million for use in providing non-emergency medical transportation to take patients in underserved areas to see specialists.

 

 

 

Until Next Week,

Tila

Legislative Update

Legislation Update for this week...

(This update is specifically related to bills I am sponsoring)

 

HB 1366 "BioSim Bill"--this bill will provide a means for a pharmacist to substitute a BioSimiliar medication for a Biologic medication much in the same manner as a generic medication is substituted for a trade or brand name medication.  This bill is in the Senate,  I am expecting it to be heard in committee in the next few weeks.  The bill has good bipartisan support and will hopefully make it through the Senate without any issues.

 

HB 1558 -- this bill deals with the laws regarding the inspections of certain nursing facilities.  There are situations in which while a facility is being built or remodeled there are duplicative inspections being conducted and not always do the regulations to pass each inspection match.  This bill will remove and clarify this situation.  This will result in less building costs and less red tape while ensuring safety of the patient is where the attention is at.  This bill will receive a hearing next week.  I am excited about this hearing and hope it will go without difficulty.  This bill is filed from last year which has made it much easier this year, I think we worked all the "kinks" out then!

 

HB 2665 -- I filed this bill just this week!   The bill will clarify an issue for EMS while respecting local control.  We are very excited about this bill as a group of constituents, including Darlene Shelton from Dexter, worked with the EMS community to draft the language for this bill.  I will be adding it as an amendment to at least one bill to help this issue be addressed as quickly as possible.  The EMS community has taken all the action they can without this language so we will work to get this language through the process as quickly as possible!

 

HCR 67 -- This resolution deals with encouraging Congress to give States more flexibility in Early Childhood federal funding.  Hopefully this will be just another document reinforcing to Congress that we, as a State, understand best how to allocate resources and emphasize it is much easier for the People to go to and contact the State Agencies compared to reaching a Federal Agency.  It has been referred to committee this week. I will be speaking with the chair to request a hearing as soon as a time is available.  

 

HCR 66 -- This resolution deals with information regarding meningococcal disease and available vaccines.  It was voted out of the first level of committee this week and is on its way to the second committee level!  I should know more next week as to the next hearing date.

 

 

 

 

Other topics of interest....

 

I am working with a group of other legislators to review our current policies in place regarding our State's Infrastructure.  I have been meeting with our local and state transportation individuals including those who work with MODOT, rail and ports.  My intern, Mary, is spending quite a bit of time assisting me with researching what other states do to support and encourage infrastructure maintenance and development.  We are discussing many ideas but I think it is going to take a variety of actions to address our current infrastructure challenges and they certainly won't be addressed overnight.  I will continue to update you from time to time on our progress.

 

 

I am also working closely with a group of nursing schools, industry stakeholders and the Department of Health and Senior Services to review the current training program for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs).  The training program is very out of date in many areas which in turn has a negative impact on those living in nursing facilities because the CNAs are not receiving the best training possible.  We are close to getting this remedied, I am hopeful to see a significant change in this area by the end of the year!