Here are five legislative updates for ASC leaders to know.
1. North Carolina may make opening an ASC easier. Three Republican lawmakers in North Carolina have sponsored a bill that could make opening ambulatory surgery centers easier. North Carolina currently includes a strict certificate of need program, which the legislation would ease. The bill would eliminate the limit on single-specialty operating rooms for ASCs.
2. Utah to reform medical malpractice. If passed, a Utah bill would alter the process by which medical providers are summoned to appear before a pre-litigation panel in medical malpractice lawsuits. Currently, patients who sue healthcare providers in Utah must first move their cases through a pre-litigation panel — a process designed to identify frivolous suits.
Under House Bill 135, accused providers would be required to summon other potentially guilty parties to the panel. Also, under the bill, accused providers would not be required to report a summons to malpractice insurers and hospitals unless they are found by the pre-litigation panel to be at fault.
3. Indiana limits who can prescribe pain medication. The Indiana Senate passed legislation that is aimed at regulating pain clinics and prescriptions of large amounts of pain medication. The legislation, authored by Sen. Ron Grooms of Jeffersonville, requires that licensed physicians have at least 60 percent ownership in clinics or offices that prescribe controlled substances.
4. Senate budget plan tackles SGR. The Senate's 114-page budget plan, chaired by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), includes restored Medicare funding for the 2 percent reimbursement cuts enacted by the sequester, as well as a permanent — though non-specific — fix to replace the sustainable growth rate that would drastically cut physician pay.
5. Georgia cracks down on pain clinics. The Georgia House of Representatives approved legislation regulating pain management clinics. The legislation requires pain clinics to get a state license from the Georgia Composite Medical Board beginning in July. It also requires that all new pain clinics be owned by physicians.
More Articles on Legislation:
North Carolina Bill Would Make Opening Physician-Owned ASCs Easier
Tennessee Academy of Ophthalmology Contests Legislation Allowing Optometrists Larger Range of Procedures
Advanced Pain Management, Beaver Dam Community Hospitals Partner to Open Clinic
1. North Carolina may make opening an ASC easier. Three Republican lawmakers in North Carolina have sponsored a bill that could make opening ambulatory surgery centers easier. North Carolina currently includes a strict certificate of need program, which the legislation would ease. The bill would eliminate the limit on single-specialty operating rooms for ASCs.
2. Utah to reform medical malpractice. If passed, a Utah bill would alter the process by which medical providers are summoned to appear before a pre-litigation panel in medical malpractice lawsuits. Currently, patients who sue healthcare providers in Utah must first move their cases through a pre-litigation panel — a process designed to identify frivolous suits.
Under House Bill 135, accused providers would be required to summon other potentially guilty parties to the panel. Also, under the bill, accused providers would not be required to report a summons to malpractice insurers and hospitals unless they are found by the pre-litigation panel to be at fault.
3. Indiana limits who can prescribe pain medication. The Indiana Senate passed legislation that is aimed at regulating pain clinics and prescriptions of large amounts of pain medication. The legislation, authored by Sen. Ron Grooms of Jeffersonville, requires that licensed physicians have at least 60 percent ownership in clinics or offices that prescribe controlled substances.
4. Senate budget plan tackles SGR. The Senate's 114-page budget plan, chaired by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), includes restored Medicare funding for the 2 percent reimbursement cuts enacted by the sequester, as well as a permanent — though non-specific — fix to replace the sustainable growth rate that would drastically cut physician pay.
5. Georgia cracks down on pain clinics. The Georgia House of Representatives approved legislation regulating pain management clinics. The legislation requires pain clinics to get a state license from the Georgia Composite Medical Board beginning in July. It also requires that all new pain clinics be owned by physicians.
More Articles on Legislation:
North Carolina Bill Would Make Opening Physician-Owned ASCs Easier
Tennessee Academy of Ophthalmology Contests Legislation Allowing Optometrists Larger Range of Procedures
Advanced Pain Management, Beaver Dam Community Hospitals Partner to Open Clinic