Here are five legislative changes from the past month that impact ambulatory surgery centers.
1. California Senate Bill 4 is working to make Medi-Cal healthcare coverage available to undocumented immigrants in the state.
2. Representative Ted Poe (R-Texas) has introduced new legislation to put a stop to ICD-10 implementation in October, according to a Medscape report. The new legislation is titled the Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2015. The bill would bar HHS from mandating the transition to ICD-10. The American Medical Association has also supported the bill.
3. The bipartisan Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to an ASA report this month. The act, introduced by Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), would expand rural access to physician anesthesiologists. The legislation would reform Medicare's rural incentive payment for all types of anesthesia providers and extend rural hospitals' access to physician anesthesiologists.
4. In late April, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to end the state's certificate of need program, according to a report by The Post and Courier. Representative Jim Merrill (R-Charleston), along with several others, argued that the free market, rather than the CON, program should regulate new health services, according to the report. If the measure becomes law, the CON program will be eliminated in 2018. The bill was introduced in the senate on May 4 and is currently residing in the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs.
5. Oregon Senate Bill 891 would have mandated the state's hospitals to post common procedure prices by health insurer, but the bill has died in the Senate, according to The Lund Report. The bill's chief sponsor was Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D-Portland). The bill faced staunch opposition from the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.