Bucks Montgomery Physician Winter 2021 - 18

QUARTERLY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
clarify insurance procedure. Voted favorably out of the
Senate Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure
committee and stalled in Senate Appropriations after
receiving second consideration from the full Senate, as
House Bill 2561 (companion) received traction.
House Bill 2561 - (Culver) - Amends the Optometric Practice
and Licensure Act to revise the therapeutic drug approval
process and to allow optometrists to order and interpret
specific noninvasive imaging tests appropriate for diagnosis
of a condition of vision. Passed the House (202-0) and the
Senate (48-0). It was signed into law as Act 99 of 2020.
Senate Bill 983 - (DiSanto) - Legislation seeks to establish
a standard newborn screening fee and merges the
mandatory and supplemental disorder lists in Pennsylvania's
Newborn Child Screening and Follow-up Program. This
legislation passed the Senate (50-0) and the House (2020). It was signed into law as Act 133 of 2020.
House Bill 730 - (Cruz) - Voted out of House Human
Services and received first consideration from the full
House. The Senate version moved as nod to Senator
DiSanto in an election year with a tough race.
House Bill 1457 - (Schroeder) - This legislation provides
for insurance coverage of custom breast prosthetics
post breast cancer reconstruction. PAMED supports
coverage for this vulnerable population of patients. Passed
the House (199-0) and the Senate (50-0). This bill was
signed into law by the Governor as Act 44 of 2020.
House Bill 770 - (DeLuca) - Granting pharmacists the ability
to administer certain diagnostic tests such as " rapid strep tests. "
After originally passing the House (163-25), the Senate sent
it back over to the House amended (47-1) where it received
concurrence (154-48). PAMED actively worked to stop this bill
as it jeopardizes patient safety and will result in increased health
care costs. The bill was signed into law as Act 140 of 2020.
SENATE BILLS/RESOLUTIONS:
Senate Bill 857 - (Vogel) - Telemedicine-Passed the Senate
(47-1) and passed the House (111-77) with the abortion language
(the FDA's REMS list medication). The Senate concurred on
the House amendments and passed the bill (29-21). However,
the Governor vetoed this legislation (Veto 4 of 2020).
Senate Resolution 20 - (Baker) - This resolution directed the
Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study
of the impact of venue for medical professional liability actions
on access to medical care and maintenance of health care
systems. PAMED strongly supported this effort to delay the
Supreme Court's proposed rule change on venue. The Senate
passed this resolution (31-18) and the LBFC held hearings. The
Senate Judiciary committee conducted hearings related to the
LBFC's findings and PAMED will be provided testimony.
Senate Bill 675 - (Brooks) - MAT, buprenorphineThis bill continues to be opposed by various entities
including the Governor's office. Although the bill
passed the Senate (41-9), the House Human Services
committee lacked the votes to advance this bill.

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winter 2021

Senate Bill 761 - (Gordner) - Informed Consent remedy
to Supreme Court decision. No movement on this bill and
priority level has been reduced as result of practitioners
adapting to the change in law. Recently, PAMED gov't
relations received a request to advocate the inclusion of
both radiology practitioner assistants (RPA) and Radiologist
Assistants (RA) (Dr. Wildenhain-Interventional Radiologist/
Washington, PA); Over the course of the current session
PAMED heard of various attempts to include this bill in
possible House deals/trade-offs, but it received no movement.
Senate Bill 340 - (Killion) - Bill seeking to allow genetic
counselors to order genetic testing; we have participated
in numerous stakeholder discussion to come to agreed
upon language before the bill is ready for " prime time. "
Introduced and referred the Senate Consumer Protection
& Professional Licensure committee, where it remained.
Senate Bill 325 - (Gordner) - Recognizes Certified
Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) under
Pennsylvania statute. Passed the Senate (49-0) and has
been referred to the House Professional Licensure
Committee, where no further action was taken.
Senate Bill 90 - (Killion) - Extreme Risk Protection Orders
(ERPOs); temporarily restricts an individual's access to firearms
when they clearly present a danger to themselves and others.
Senate Bill 870 - (Killion) - Physician Assistants (PAs);
seeking to help physician assistants work and practice with
increased efficiency. The bill allows for modernization
for physician assistants to practice while maintaining
their role under supervising physicians. These bills were
voted favorably out the Senate Consumer Protection &
Professional Licensure committee and then stalled.
Senate Bill 871 - (Killion) - companion
bill amending the DO act.
Senate Bill 993 - (Brooks) - These bills seek to assist small
businesses in providing health care benefits to their employees
by the formation of group association health plans. It was likely
that the Senate version would move as it contains additional
language providing for elasticity pending the outcome of
federal litigation around the issue, but it stalled in committee.
House Bill 2200 - (Gaydos) - House companion bill to SB993.
Senate Bill 181 - (Brooks) - Bill providing for mandatory
CME in Lyme disease and related tick-borne diseases for health
care professionals; PAMED opposes any mandatory CME
and communicated this in recent stakeholder meeting with
the Senator's staff. The bill received no committee action.
HOUSE BILLS/RESOLUTIONS:
House Bill 1862 - (Pickett) - OON/Surprise billing - This
bill was originally fast tracked, but with 30+ entities voicing
opposition it was put on hold. We continue to oppose
it in the current form, while we support amendments
proposed by Rep. Kaufer and Rep. Rothman dealing with
the commercially reasonable standard and independent
dispute resolution. Various meetings and discussions with
House leadership continue to occur and have this legislation
Bucks Montgomery Physician Winter 2021

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