Friday, September 28, 2012

Legislative Update Week of September 24th


With the legislature winding down for the month of September, the last months of work for the legislators is starting to shape up. The Senate has started to focus on certificate of need reform and allowing for hospital to be built by McLaren in Clarkston. The Governor is focused on the transformation of Blue Cross / Blue Shield into a mutual insurer, and the House focusing on a variety of issues, let’s review the past couple weeks:

House:

Dr. Phillips and Mercantante
testifying in House Health
Policy Committee
The House Health Policy committee met this past week having two items on their agenda. The first was a presentation on the outbreak of the West Nile virus and the effects it’s having on the state. After the presentation they considered House Bill 5934 which would amend the Public Health code to allow for Expedited Partner Therapy in Michigan. Dr. James Phillips, a MD and health officer for Hillsdale, Branch and Hillsdale counties testified for the Medical Society in support of the package. Dr. Annette Mercantante, a MD as well and health officer of St. Clair county testified for the Michigan Association of Local Public Health (MALPH) and for Michigan Association of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Physicians (MAPPP). The Michigan Association of Justice came to the committee to oppose the bills since the legislation sets a gross negligence standard for physicians who utilize EPT and there is an adverse reaction to the antibiotics given for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia. The bill was sent to a work group where hopefully in October, when the House comes back for one day it will be considered by the committee for a vote.

The House Transportation committee continued the work of the Senate and considered Senate Bills 402 and 403. Testimony was taken on these bills similar to what was testified in the Senate and were reported out of committee on Thursday after the committee took a bunch of testimony on regional transit authority issues in Southeast Michigan. Hopefully these bills will be taken up by the House in the coming months and sent to the Governor for his signature. The House Insurance committee started taking testimony on the mutualization of Blue Cross/Blue Shield. This will be a highly contentious issue and one that will on the front burner until the end of the year.

Senate:

The Senate Insurance committee starting taking testimony on Senate Bills 1293 and 1294 that would allow for the mutualization of the Blues. The Attorney General Bill Schuette testified to both the House and Senate committee that he will trust but needs to verify that the conversion will not harm those who depend on the Blues for their insurance. The Senate will continue to take testimony on the legislation but it could be expected for the Senate to take a vote on the legislation in November to push it to the House. Currently the House does not seem interested in pushing this legislation forward so quickly which could push this issue into the New Year.

The Senate Economic Development committee for the past couple weeks has been considering Senate Bill 1269 which would amend the certificate of need statute but also allow McLaren to build a hospital in Clarkston. Testimony was given for and against the bill which lead to a substitute piece of legislation as was reported to the Senate floor on September 12 where the Senate approved the amendment and sent the legislation from second reading to the committee of the whole in the Senate. The timeline is unknown as of now but we could see the bill making its way to the House before Election Day.

Both the House and Senate will now take a break until October 17th when they will both be in for just that day.

If you are looking for more information on who MDPAC is supporting go to http://www.mdpac.org to get the latest election information.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Legislative Update: Week of September 10th


Good day and welcome back. With school starting and summer winding down, the legislature is back in session returning from their summer break as well. The House and Senate only saw a flurry of activity of introduction of bills but the Senate did provide some sparks with election reform and the democrats attempt to add an amendment that would have made the activities with Speaker Bolger and Rep. Roy Schmidt illegal. After Wednesday, activity slowed with the House not recording the attendance and letting members know that they will only be taking attendance this coming Wednesday the 19th and Thursday the 27th for the remainder of September. Committees were still scheduled to meet and work for the next couple weeks and they did just that.

House:

The House Health Policy committee met to consider House Bill 5697 and Senate Bill 1122 that would require schools have regulations to deal with athletes that suffer a concussion while playing sports. MSMS supports the legislation and the efforts to take care of children that have suffered a concussion. The committee took testimony from supports of the legislation then provided a substitute that narrowed some the language of the bills. They were voted out of committee and sent to the House Floor for their consideration. The committee also heard a presentation on Michigan's clinical trials and their effects on Michigan. This is an issue that Chairwoman Haines is interested in and may have legislation to support clinical trials in the future.

Senate:

The Senate Health Policy committee did also meet to consider House Bills 5089 and 5090. These bills deal with the destruction of prescription drugs and a repository for those that are unused and unopened. These bills did make it out of committee. They also heard a presentation about clinical trials and considered Senate Resolution 134.

The House will now only be in three more days between now and election day. The Senate will continue to work without the House. For more political information check out our advocacy page at http://www.msms.org/advocacy.

The Supreme Court race in Michigan is crucial to all Michigan physicians. Go to http://www.mdpac.org for more information
.