Health and Human Services Policy Items Pass

May 26, 2022

While the conference committee on the omnibus Health and Human Services (HHS) bill did not reach an agreement on how to spend the allocated $1 billion, both House and Senate members agreed to recommend passage of certain policy items.  

These items primarily have no cost and were amended onto HF4065, a bill recodifying long-term care consultation services. That bill passed both the House and Senate and was sent to the governor for signature. 

The policy bill included language to ensure patients with chronic pain continue to have access to needed, ongoing opioids. Efforts to reduce the overuse of opioids have resulted in patients being forced to taper their opioid dosages, even when it is not in their best interest. The language in the HHS policy bill balances the goal of reducing opioid overuse with the acknowledgement that some patients with chronic pain need ongoing access to these medications. 

Language prohibiting discriminatory practices regarding access to organ transplants was also included in the HHS policy bill. Specifically, the language states a person’s race or ethnicity cannot be a criterion used to determine a person’s eligibility to receive an anatomical gift or organ transplant. There are many factors that go into deciding who qualifies for an organ transplant, and the need for transplants often exceeds the supply of organs. This results in many patients never receiving the organs they need to survive. The final language helps ensure that those decisions are based on medical factors and not a patient’s race or ethnicity. 

The HHS policy bill also included an item reducing the number of criminal background checks needed for healthcare workers. Currently, a healthcare worker is required to have a criminal background check to be licensed in the state, and they must also receive a separate background check if they participate in programs licensed by the departments of Health or Human Services. The bill allows one background check to be used for both purposes. 

Additional provisions include language modifying the definition of palliative care to better reflect that palliative care is not synonymous with end-of-life care, language establishing an Opioids, Substance Use, and Addiction subcabinet within DHS, and language permitting licensed pharmacists to inject certain prescribed medication and place drug monitoring devices. 

Items with a cost to the state were not included in the policy bill. Their outcome depends on whether a special session is called.