PA-ACP – 2024 Advocacy Successes

PA-ACP is proud to be Pennsylvania internists’ advocate both in Harrisburg and with the state’s Congressional delegation. As this year’s work concluded, PA-ACP continued its successes for internal medicine specialists and your patients during 2024.  ERG Partners and its four lobbyists have played key roles in securing passage of legislation to improve access to quality health care and reduce administrative burdens on your behalf.

During a very successful spring legislative session, your Chapter Several led efforts to get passage of several significant bills, with major victories in banning noncompete clauses in health care provider contracts, mandating coverage of telemedicine, and allowing Pennsylvania to join the Interstate Medical  Licensure Compact.  In addition, the Chapter was instrumental in passage of an insurance mandate for biomarker testing when supported by scientific/medical evidence.

Other bills of interest to members that were signed by the Governor in late June and early July include a law that requires insurers make options besides credit card payments available to providers, a law regulating PBMs, including audits, drug pricing and availability, and allowing athletic directors to perform basic invasive procedures on physically active persons with written protocol from a physician.

The Chapter also successfully lobbied for an additional $100 million in the state budget for mental health programs and another $10 million for rural hospitals participating in the Pennsylvania Rural Health Model, and an increase of

We were successful in defending patient safety, blocking passage of three major scope of practice expansions: for CRNPs who sought full practice authority; psychologists who sought the independent ability to prescribe medications; and pharmacists who sought license to provide all immunizations, injections and biologicals to anyone three years of age and older.

This fall the General Assembly passed legislation to allow the Department of State to forego normal regulatory review processes to allow PA joining Interstate Licensure Compacts.  The Chapter also helped get passage of legislation creating the Alzheimer’s Dementia and Related Diseases state plan and advisory board, and a change in reporting requirements for Physician Assistants.

Other legislation PA-ACP supported that passed require care transition units to secure post-acute care placements for patients; add virtual manufacturers of controlled substances to the Wholesale Prescription Drug Distributors Licensing Act; and authorize use of video technology for interviews in hiring direct care employees for home care agencies and contractors. And the Governor recently signed laws that mandate MA reimbursement for doula services and requiring urgent care facilities to take newborns into protective custody.

PA-ACP has also taken the lead on behalf of the medical professional organizations in efforts to resolve the growing crisis in medical malpractice lawsuits and insurance costs. And we continue to work with legislators, staff and stakeholders on scope of practice issues.

Administration Actions

The Chapter maintains an ongoing effort to serve as a liaison with state agencies, including the Departments of Aging, Drug and Alcohol Programs, Health, Human Services and Insurance.  The State Insurance Department announced the new MCARE Assessment for 2025 as required under section 712 of the MCARE Act.  The annual assessment for 2025 will be 29% applied to the prevailing primary premium.  That assessment is an increase from the 26% in 2024 and the 24% in 2023.  Prior to that, the assessment had been set at 19% for several years.  Of concern is that these assessment increases may be due to the responses of insurers to the increased medical malpractice filings in Philadelphia after the Supreme Court’s decision to change the state venue provisions.

Legal Actions

The Chapter also joined in an amicus curiae brief in a case before the state Supreme Court where a lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court despite the fact that the accident giving rise to these claims occurred in Westmoreland County.

 

Political Action

PA-ACP Services has formally established a state-level political action committee to accept contributions from members, and to donate those funds to state candidates’ campaigns. This is simply recognizing the need participate fully in advocating for your policy positions at the state level.

Stay up to Date

By joining Keystone Contacts, you can get regular updates and get engaged directly throughout the legislative session.

More information and updates are also available on the Chapter website.