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Session Recap
In our email last week, we gave a brief rundown of major items in play for the final hours of session. There were few significant changes in the final healthcare legislation from where things stood last Friday morning, but the biggest unresolved item was the telehealth package.
Originally included in the healthcare omnibus bill, the legislation would have extended the Governor's telehealth executive order through May of 2021. After significant intervention from the Senate, House Majority Leader Greg Harris agreed to remove the telehealth section from the omnibus package. Following that action, Rep. Deb Conroy then filed a standalone telehealth amendment to
SB671 which extended the Governor's executive order through the end of 2020. The House passed that package unanimously, but it was never called for a vote in the Senate.
Proponents argued that codifying the executive order was necessary in order to head off a potential legal threat to the Governor's disaster declaration. Opponents argued that the legislation was not necessary as the EO was still in force, that there was an agreed-to package on telehealth already negotiated earlier this year in the Senate, and that locking in the executive order would make telehealth more expensive for consumers and employers.
With no final action, we anticipate this will arise again during Veto Session. It is our hope that conversations can resume over the summer that result in a consensus package. The Chamber supports increasing access to telehealth services, particularly during a global pandemic, but we should not diminish the promise of telehealth by making it more expensive for consumers.
And by the way, if you are looking for the final legislative vehicles that passed in the healthcare space, here they are:
One final note - we have previously discussed that there is a study included in the healthcare omnibus that charges HFS and DOI to recommend solutions to increase access to affordable healthcare. We will be reaching out to the administration over the summer to offer feedback on this pursuit. The Chamber shares in the goal of increasing access to healthcare, but access must be balanced with quality and affordability to employers and consumers.
Working Groups Continue
The Chamber has been named to a new working group convened by the Illinois Department of Insurance regarding
PA 101-0461 which requires DOI to determine an insurance coding solution that allows for bundled treatment models for first episode psychosis, ACT and CST. If you have an interest in this topic, please let me know. No meeting dates have been scheduled yet.
Additionally, the Department's Mental Health Parity Data working group will start convening again shortly. This working group was put on hiatus earlier this year due to COVID. The working group is charged with developing reporting requirements for insurers regarding mental health parity metrics.
JCAR Update
There were no new proposed rules in this week's Flinn Report (an emergency rule was filed regarding COVID testing at long-term care facilities but past the Flinn Report publican deadline - see the clip below).
Illinois COVID Clips
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