MAPA Legislative Update
MAPA believes it is impetrative to keep you apprised of the important work MAPA is doing up at the State House, and the progress that has been made in educating lawmakers about our profession. Over 6,000 bills are filed each year, and most do not make it past the first stage. On July 31st formal sessions came to a close in the State House, meaning that any bills that could be objectionable by even one member, needed to be passed. The session will formally end on December 31st.
Over the past several months, we have had many successes in incorporating PAs into meaningful legislation that will establish a greater importance for PAs in the medical community. When the next legislative session begins in January 2011, the legislature will pursue global payment reform and we will be working to ensure that PAs are included in the definition of providers. Most of the proposed restructuring of primary care and teams of patients will be provider based. It will be vital to have PAs included as a provider that can be a lead clinician for a panel of patient to continue to meet the demand in primary care. If PAs are not included there will be a decrease in access for patients and further complications in practices being reimbursed for the services PAs provide.
· On July 31rst, the last night of session, both branches passed a “Health Care Cost Containment” legislation, which was signed into law by Governor Patrick. In order to reduce health care costs and increase access, this law requires that carriers use uniform standards and methodologies for credentialing any provider, including PAs, in order to be accredited. This is a big move forward for PAs as we have not been credentialed by private health insurers in the past. This will set the stage in the upcoming reform changes to include PAs as a provider. Additionally, it requires that regulations be established to for uniform methodology of calculating and reporting relative prices paid to hospitals, physician groups, and other health care providers, including PAs. Under this law, all health care providers are now required to track and report quality information. Finally, this legislation makes it possible for a health care provider who is not a medical doctor to sit on a working group on administrative simplification as well as a commission on the impact of reducing the number of health benefit plans that a health care payer may maintain and offer to individuals and employees.
· H.948, “An Act Relative to Physician Services Provided by Physician Assistants,” sponsored by Rep. Koutoujian, was reported favorably out of the Joint Committee on Financial Services on November 9, 2009 and was referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. This bill would place a guarantee under law that PAs are recognized as healthcare providers and that the services provided by PAs are reimbursable by insurance. It is especially important that PAs are recognized as providers in light of healthcare reform both locally and nationally. Although the bill was put in a study, we were successful in getting the House to include this language as an amendment to their version of the healthcare cost containment bill, putting the House on record as supportive of the legislation. Unfortunately, the conference committee did not include this language in the version placed in front of the Governor. We will continue to fight for the adoption of this legislation and are optimistic that we will be successful in the next session.
· H.2178, “An Act Relative to Ionizing Radiation,” sponsored by Rep. Vallee, was reported favorably out of the Joint Committee on Public Health and was referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on March 1st. This bill would allow PAs who have completed a course in radiation safety to perform procedures that use ionizing radiation, including fluoroscopy, as delegated by a supervising physician. Although this legislation was put into a study, the filing of it led to meetings and discussions with the Department of Public Health. We are hopeful these discussions can lead to a timely resolution of this issue.
· On July 2nd, Governor Patrick signed the “Save Driver Bill” (H.4795) banning texting while driving, prohibiting teen drivers from using mobile devices of any kind while on the road, and establishing procedures for health care workers to report cognitively impaired motorists. This bill includes PAs as health care providers who can make professional judgments about whether or not an individual is capable of operating a motor vehicle whilst using a mobile device, and protects PAs and other health care providers from any civil liability resulting from their report.
· On July 2nd, Governor Patrick also signed into legislation H. 1696, “An Act relative to assault and battery on health care providers.” This legislation updated existing legislation by expanding protection from assault and battery to all health care providers (including PAs) and also increasing the penalties for an offender to a minimum sentence of 90 days or a minimum fine of $500.
As always, we encourage PAs to share their stories and ideas with all policy makers, including those working on health care reform, to make sure they become familiar with this growing and important profession. We must ensure that PAs and the issues impacting clinical practice be heard on Beacon Hill.
We remain committed to advancing the issues that improve the quality of work and life for PAs and look forward to keeping you informed about relevant policy efforts in our state.
I would like to thank all of you that responded to the number of action alerts. Your voice was heard and was instrumental in including PAs in the current legislation.
Heather Trafton MS, PA-C
President and Legislative Chair, MAPA
Charles Glick and Erin McAleer
Charles Group Consulting
8 Winter Street 12th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: (617) 423-1177; Fax: (617) 451-2449
EMcAleer@charlesgroupconsulting.com
www.charlesgroupconsulting.com
