StemCell Therapy

Shawna De La Rosa | Nov 23, 2020

Several health care bills are slated for consideration when Virginia legislative sessions resume Jan. 13. Some of the highlights are listed below.

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HB188: Health care service estimates

Health care services and payment estimates will be considered in HB188. The bill would require hospitals and practitioners licensed by the Board of Medicine to allow a patient to receive an estimate for a nonemergency procedure or test no later than week after scheduling the procedure. Currently, only hospitals are required to provide those estimates.

HB526 Reproductive health coverage

The HB526 would require health benefit plans to cover the costs of specified health care services, drugs, devices, products and procedures related to reproductive health, including well women preventative visits, counseling for sexually transmitted infections, screenings for certain conditions, folic acid supplements, breastfeeding support, breast cancer chemoprevention counseling, contraception, voluntary sterilization and all other treatments that must be covered under federal law as of Jan. 1, 2019.

HB530 Health plans

The Department of Medical Assistance Services, in collaboration with the State Corporation Commission, will be required to contract with health carriers to offer qualified health plans on the health benefit exchange beginning Jan. 1, 2022, if HB 530 passes.

HB579 Mammogram coverage

House Bill 579 would require health insurers to provide coverage for low-dose screening mammograms after Jan. 1, 2021, if the individual has a family history of breast cancer. If an individual has a family history of breast cancer, insurers would have to cover annual mammograms from age 30 to 49 and biannual mammograms starting at age 50.

HB1036 Preventative mental health screenings

Preventative mental health screenings will be covered for outpatient mental health patients if HB 1036 passes. It would require a health carrier to provide coverage as a preventative service for at least six annual therapy or counseling outpatient screenings or visits with a licensed mental health professional for the early detection or prevention of mental illness. Health carriers would be prohibited from imposing cost-sharing requirements for mandated preventative services.

HB1331 Provider contract provisions

House Bill 1331 would prohibit a health carrier that offers a managed care plan from entering into, extending or renewing a provider contract with a facility unless the provider contract contains certain provisions. Each health provider that provides emergency services at the facility of an in-network provider has agreed to have the reimbursement from the health carrier included as part of the health carriers payment to the facility. It also requires that the health carrier cant be billed separately for emergency or ancillary services provided at the facility. This applies to any laboratory or diagnostic service provided at the facility which is in-network or for the referral to an in-network provider.

See the article here:
Health care bills already slated for 2021 session - State of Reform - State of Reform

This entry was posted on November 28, 2020 at 7:00 am and is filed under Preventative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |