Friday, December 2, 2011

Legislative Update: Week of November 28th

The legislature was back in session this week after the two week holiday break. Auto no fault continues to stay at the fore front of the issue MSMS is working on but for the legislature that was a different story. The House still continues to work on the no fault issue, trying to find members of their caucus to support the changes while the Senate looks on. There were two issues that MSMS was interested in that did get some movement this week, lets review:

House:

The House this week received back HB 5014 that provides supplemental appropriations for several state departments. Included in the appropriations proposal that came back from the senate was a $3 Million General Fund / General Purpose (GF/GP) appropriations for graduate medical education. This would calculate to a just over $8 Million increase in GME funding with state and federal dollars. The House Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Community Health took testimony this week on the inclusion of the GME money and what it meant for programs. Dr. Eric Scher from Henry Ford Health Systems testified at the committee hearing.

The House Health Policy Committee continued taking testimony from interested parties involved with the implementation of a health insurance exchange.The House in general worked on issues dealing with local governments and watercraft safety.

Senate:

The Senate this week dealt primarily with issues surrounding unemployment but did consider one issue that the legislation and regulations committee of MSMS considered. SB 798 allows for the temporary scheduling of drugs and controlled substances if deemed necessary by the Department of Community Health. It was passed out of the Senate and sent to the House for their consideration. The Senate Health Policy committee was scheduled to meet but did not because of the lengthy session day on Thursday.

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