ISMS Is Working to Push Legislative Wins Over the Finish Line!
April 26, 2024
ISMS Is Working to Push Legislative Wins Over the Finish Line!
The 2024 Illinois Spring Legislative Session is in full swing, and your hard-working governmental affairs team is actively waging a battle to secure a number of victories for Illinois physicians! As we go to press, here is the current status of legislation being debated in Springfield.
These ISMS-backed bills have passed out of the Illinois House and are now being considered by the Senate Assignments Committee:
- Governor Pritzker’s major healthcare reform initiative, the Healthcare Protection Act (House Bill 5395), would add clear enforcement mechanisms to the ISMS-initiated Network Adequacy and Transparency Act. In addition, the bill would ensure that provider directories are updated on a regular basis with correct information, ban step therapy and require insurers to use generally accepted medical standards of care when deciding whether to cover a treatment recommended by a physician.
- House Bill 5373 would help patients with chronic pain more easily access opioid treatment as determined necessary by their treating physician.
- House Bill 4874 would ensure that pharmacists do not deny prescriptions for controlled substances solely because they are not prescribed electronically.
These ISMS-backed bills have cleared the Illinois Senate and have been sent to various House committees for consideration:
- Senate Bill 3741 would remove prior authorization for higher doses of buprenorphine and address a physician’s freedom to prescribe controlled substances as they feel appropriate and most beneficial to their patients.
- Senate Bill 3136 would create a statewide, multidisciplinary task force to design a model for implementing Family Recovery Plans to help pregnant persons who have been diagnosed with substance use disorders.
- Senate Bill 2641 is an initiative of the pathologists that would require the Illinois Department of Insurance to assess networks for adequate numbers of hospital-based specialists (including but not limited to pathologists, radiologists, ER physicians, anesthesiologists).
This bill is currently on the Illinois Senate floor for consideration:
- ISMS-backed Senate Bill 3732 would remove prior authorization for drugs used to treat chronic conditions and long-term illnesses.
In addition, your legislative team is pushing back on these burdensome and unsafe legislative proposals that would negatively impact patient care. ISMS vehemently opposes these bills, which are currently not advancing in the General Assembly:
- Senate Bill 3701 would allow expansion of the mandate to check the prescription monitoring program (PMP) by adding to the existing mandate to include all controlled substances, not just opioids. The bill would also make prescribers, as a condition for licensure, have individual accounts with the PMP.
- Senate Bill 3114/House Bill 4637 would allow physician assistants (PAs) to practice independently of a physician and grant PAs full prescriptive authority.
- Senate Bill 3336/House Bill 4822/House Bill 5462 would drastically change the scope of practice of pharmacists by allowing them to test and treat for certain conditions
- House Bill 3721 would allow naturopaths to practice traditional medicine as primary care physicians practice, allowing them to provide a full range of medical services to patients in Illinois and have full prescriptive authority.
ISMS will keep you updated about the outcome of bills that would impact your practice of medicine as the Spring 2024 Legislative Session continues forward.
If you have questions, please contact ISMS Senior Vice President of State Legislative Affairs Erin O'Brien by email.