As the new year is ushered in, so too are many new laws and regulations.
Jan. 1, 2015 marks the first day newly issued insurance policies purchased through health exchanges will begin covering patient treatments under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As of New Year's Day, the PPACA will also mandate affordable healthcare be provided by employers with 50 or more full-time employees to their workers or else face steep penalties.
In addition to major, federal legislative changes, listed below are 15 state laws that will affect peoples' health even if they don't impact hospitals or physicians directly, effective Jan. 1.
- Arizona S.B. 1443 allows public colleges and universities to research medical marijuana's use in treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Illinois S.B. 2636 added epilepsy to the list of medical conditions and ailments medical marijuana may be used to treat and limits its treatment for children to cannabis oil.
- California A.B. 1792 adds Government Code section 13084, which prohibits employers from discharging, discriminating or retaliating against an employee who enrolls in the California Medical Assistance Program, or Medi-Cal. Additionally, the code prohibits employers from refusing to hire a beneficiary of Medi-Cal or disclosing to any person that an employee receives or is applying for Medi-Cal unless authorized by state or federal law.
- California S.B. 1034 prohibits group health insurance policies and HMO contracts from imposing any waiting or affiliation period upon any individual. In doing so, California health insurance plans will be subject to the PPACA limit of 90-day eligibility waiting periods.
- California S.B. 1266 requires school districts, county offices of education and charter schools to provide emergency epinephrine auto-injectors, or EpiPens, to school nurses and trained personnel to use on students or people suffering from an anaphylactic reaction.
- Illinois S.B. 1630 requires physicians who use outside pathologists or laboratories for anatomic pathology services to disclose the actual amount charged for the service to patients, improving price transparency. The law also includes legal protections against markup charges for anatomic pathology services.
- Illinois H.B. 5868 requires e-cigarettes be sold from behind a counter in a sealed display case while Rhode Island H.B. 7021 bans the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and requires anyone selling them in the state to obtain an annual license.
- Maine L.D. 990 requires healthcare practitioners — not including pharmacists — to have a list of prices for their most commonly provided procedures. Additionally, practitioners will be required to advise patients of the list's availability, provide it when requested and provide patients with data available through the Maine Health Data Organization.
- Under Minnesota S.F. 511, advanced practice registered nurses no longer require written agreements with physicians to prescribe medications and perform other forms of patient care. Instead, APRNs will be required to work 2,080 hours under an agreement with a physician, clinical nurse specialist or another APRN, after which they will be able to practice independently as a clinical nurse specialist, nurse anesthetist, nurse-midwife or nurse practitioner. Although not entirely the same, Illinois H.B. 1052 also expands the duties that APRNs are allowed to perform.
- Missouri H.B. 986 and Montana S.B. 270 require private insurance plans to cover telemedicine healthcare services if the same service — be it diagnosis, consultation or treatment — would be covered if provided in-person.
- Under Oregon H.B. 4094, underage people who consume alcohol will no longer be prosecuted for possession if they seek medical attention for themselves or for others. The law only offers immunity from a minor-in-possession charge; it does not shield minors from other offenses like driving under the influence or possessing illegal drugs.
- Under Texas S.B. 492, establishing or operating a prescribed pediatric extended-care center without the appropriate license will become a class B misdemeanor. Additionally, the law specifies that each day a violation continues constitutes a separate offense.
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