AZ Legislative Update – February 11, 2022
Posted by [email protected] on Feb. 11, 2022 / AZ Legislative Update / Subscribe 0
AZ Legislative Update – February 11, 2022
Today marks the 33rd day of the Arizona 55th Legislature, 2nd Regular Session. As anticipated, legislative activity at the Capitol considerably picked up with it being the final week for members to introduce new bills, without special permission from the House Speaker or Senate President. As it currently stands, there are 1,662 bills and 127 resolutions posted. This is the second largest number of bills introduced in a single legislative session. Last year’s Legislature set the record with 1,774 bills introduced.
Throughout the week, committee agendas were rather lengthy, and both the House and Senate spent a significant time on the floor debating and voting on bills. Members will have another busy week ahead of them as we enter the final week for bills to be heard in their chamber of origin. Any bill that has not cleared its assigned legislative committee by the end of this week (outside an additional week for the appropriations committees) will essentially be dead in its current form. However, with amendments and striker-everything amendments, no issue is ever truly finished until session is over, sine die.
Below, please find a few bills that we would like to highlight. Some of them are up in committee this week. Additionally, you will find attached your full tracking list of bills.
We are continuing to engage members and staff on our top legislative priorities. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Health Insurance
SB 1016 Pharmacies; Off-Label Use; Refusal Prohibition (Townsend): SB 1016 will be heard in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday morning. This bill prohibits a pharmacy, during a proclaimed health state of emergency, from refusing to fill a prescription order for a prescription-only drug that is being prescribed for an “off-label use.”
SB 1330 Discount Prescription Drugs; Pharmacies (Barto): SB 1330 will not be heard this week, killing this problematic bill. As drafted, the bill stipulated that a health insurer or pharmacy benefit manager that reimburses a "340B covered entity" of the entity's contract pharmacy for drugs that are subject to an agreement under specified federal code is prohibited from taking any of a list of specified actions including assessing any fee on the basis of participation in the program or establishing restrictions on the 340B covered entity.
SB 1395 Mental Health Medication; Prior Authorization (Shope): SB 1395 will not be heard this week, meaning that this problematic bill is dead. The bill requires health insurers to cover any prescribed drug for treatment of a mental disorder, without prior authorization, if a list of specified conditions apply. Under the bill, for the purpose of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, drugs prescribed for the treatment of a mental disorder are not subject to any prior authorization requirement, step therapy, or other protocol that could restrict or delay dispensing the drug if specified conditions apply.
HB 2144 Health Insurance Coverage; Biomarker Testing (Cobb): HB 2144 will be heard in the House Health and Human Service Committee on Monday afternoon. This bill is a straight up mandate, requiring health insurers to cover biomarker testing. Under the bill, a health insurer that issues, amends, or renews a subscription contract or insurance policy on or after January 1, 2023 is required to provide coverage for biomarker testing (defined in the bill) for the purposes of diagnosis, treatment, appropriate management, or ongoing monitoring of a subscriber's disease or condition when the test is supported by medical and scientific evidence. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System Administration and its contractors are required to provide biomarker testing for the same purposes.
HB 2486 Health Providers; Insurers; Estimated Costs (Wilmeth): HB 2486 is scheduled to be heard in the House Health and Human Services Committee on Monday afternoon; however, this problematic “right-to-shop” bill from a few years back will be changed into a study committee. As currently drafted, the bill mandates health insurers to create a “shopping tool” that allows enrollees to shop for the most cost-effective providers. In addition, this proposed legislation requires insurers to provide incentives for enrollees to select the most cost-effective care. The amendment in committee will require DHS to do a report on existing public data with regards to hospital affordability and potential anti-competitive behavior.
HB 2698 Insurance; Assignment of Benefits (Martinez): HB 2698 is scheduled to be heard in the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday afternoon. The bill stipulates that statute prohibiting insurance payments for services from being made to anyone other than the health care provider to whom payment was assigned applies to an insurer whether acting as an insurer or performing administrative services.
Insurance Operations
HB 2599 Administrative Hearing; GRRC (Grantham): HB 2599 will be heard on Tuesday afternoon in the House Commerce Committee. The bill updates the Office of Administrative Hearing (OAH) process by eliminating the unfair unilateral authority for state agencies to overrule an administrative law judge’s decision and allows businesses to recover attorney fees and costs if successful at OAH. The bill also streamlines the appeals process when the third parties are appealing an agency decision. Additionally, it makes several modifications to the GRRC appeal process by modernizing procedures and leveling the playfield for the business community.
HB 2685 Artificial Intelligence; Requirements (Carroll): HB 2685 will be heard in the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday afternoon. This troubling bill stipulates that an algorithm that enables artificial intelligence to learn and implement decisions without human intervention must support human agency and fundamental rights, comply with all federal and state laws, fulfill ethical principles that ensure no unintended human harm occurs, and provide transparency and traceability of data logs and decision-making.
HB 2731 Regulatory Sandbox; Expansion (Kaiser): HB 2731 will be heard in the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday. The bill stipulates that the regulatory sandbox program is no longer limited to only financial products or services.
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