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14 Days Left in Spring Legislative Session

May 10, 2024

The Illinois General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn on May 24, leaving 14 days left in this spring’s legislative session. The ISMS Government Affairs team will be maximizing every opportunity between now and the end of session to advance bills designed to improve the state of medicine in Illinois.

If you’ve been tracking our legislative priorities so far, we are pleased to announce ISMS-backed Senate Bill 2573, requiring health insurance plans to cover wigs for hair loss due to cancer treatment or alopecia was passed by the Senate and unanimously by the House Thursday afternoon and is now heading to the Governor’s desk for signing. This bill is the result of an ISMS resolution.

We expect action next week on Senate Bill 3741, removing prior authorization for higher doses of buprenorphine in treating substance abuse disorder, Senate Bill 3136, creating a task force to implement Family Recovery Plans to help pregnant persons who have been diagnosed with substance use disorders, We are also expecting that House Bill 4874 will move out of committee this week. This ISMS-backed bill will ensure that pharmacists do not deny prescriptions for controlled substances when they are not prescribed electronically and puts the needs of patients first.

Having passed in the House, we are hopeful that Governor Pritzker’s Healthcare Protection Act, House Bill 5395, can advance through the Senate before the end of session. The HPA will address the ongoing insurance network adequacy issues that ISMS has been fighting for years by amending the ISMS-sponsored Network Adequacy and Transparency Act of 2017. It will also restore healthcare decision-making power to patients and their doctors by banning step therapy, as well as limiting the use prior authorization and requiring additional transparency about its permitted use.

Our team is also meeting with legislators to work with them in drafting this year’s Medicaid omnibus legislation. Last year’s bill produced some additional reimbursement funding for physicians, but we continue to press for more. We are working round the clock to retain proposals that will benefit Illinois doctors and to fight the good fight on the reimbursement front for ISMS members.

Stay tuned for additional updates from the ISMS Government Affairs staff and feel free to contact ISMS Senior Vice President of State Legislative Affairs Erin O'Brien by email with any questions.

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