2014 Legislative Session report: Wins for Colorado physicians

Wednesday, May 07, 2014 03:40 PM

The 2014 Regular Session of the Colorado General Assembly concluded yesterday, May 7. Over the past 120 days, the Colorado Medical Society lobbied for or against more than 40 bills to ensure legislation benefits physicians professionally and helps improve the health and wellness of Colorado patients. The CMS Council on Legislation (COL), along with their policy and public affairs professionals, reviewed each bill to understand its intent, its possible outcomes and the political landscape to collectively determine how and at what level CMS should engage. Demonstrating that organized medicine in Colorado is not an oxymoron, CMS and state and component medical societies united on numerous bills to enhance impact and assure positive outcomes.

During the 69th Colorado General Assembly, the Colorado Medical Society:

• Maintained Colorado’s stable tort environment by thwarting all attempts to increase the value of a lawsuit
• Prevented any erosion of professional review protections
• Maintained a pay increase for primary care on the state level through 2015; the federal government discontinued this increase
• Achieved a 2 percent across-the-board provider rate increase in Medicaid payment
• Obtained $1 million in state funding for the development of rural family residency programs, which will be matched by federal funding of $1 million for a total of $2 million
• Passed a bipartisan bill that forms the Colorado Commission on Affordable Health Care to analyze health care costs in Colorado; one representative on the commission will be from CMS
• Stopped efforts by alternative health care providers, acupuncturists and naturopaths to expand their scope of practice and diminish requirements for registration
• Stopped a bill that would have criminalized a physician’s failure to report his or her patients to the DMV for a broad list of medical conditions
• Stopped the erosion of physician licensure requirements
• Updated the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program process so prescribers can designate up to three persons who can access the PDMP
• Passed a bill that allows for an extension of the work of the Colorado Clean Claims Task Force so the group can work to implement reforms nationally
• Blocked legislative barriers to responsible state-level implementation of the Affordable Care Act
• Blocked an effort by pharmacists to legislate that physicians cannot own a telepharmacy and that the Board of Pharmacy could impose further restrictions on physician ownership
• Passed a joint House resolution that recognized the volunteer efforts of the Medical Reserve Corps of the El Paso County during the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires
• Extended the workers’ compensation physician accreditation program
• Extended the Nurse Physician Advisory Taskforce for Colorado Healthcare (NPATCH) to make recommendations about advanced practice nurse (APN) hours for prescriptive authority
• Blocked a bill from being introduced that would have eliminated APN hours for prescriptive authority

CMS was instrumental in postponing indefinitely (killing):

• HB14-1068: Physician Report Driving Condition to Department of Revenue
• SB14-032: Alternative Health Care Providers Treat Children
• SB14-128: Modify Naturopathic Doctors Act
• HB14-1198: Military and Family Professional Licensing
• HB14-1192: Repeal Health Benefit Exchange
• HB 14-1364: Add PTSD to conditions that could be treated with medical marijuana

CMS was instrumental in passing:

• SB 14-187: Colorado Commission on Affordable Health Care
• HB14-1283: Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, which allows prescribers to have three designees that may access the PDMP
• HB14-1288: Student Immunizations Prior to School Attendance
• SB14-018: Prohibit Nicotine Product/Minors
• SB14-159: Extension of Clean Claims Taskforce
• SB14-144: Family Medicine Residency Programs in Rural Areas

Look for a full summary of the 2014 legislative session in the June/July 2014 issue of Colorado Medicine.