February 22, 2024
The 2023 Legislature passed an MMA priority directing the Minnesota commissioner of health to assemble an advisory committee of stakeholders to study and recommend how to implement a statewide registry for Provider Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) forms.
That advisory committee finalized their report and recommendations in the fall of 2023. The MMA is now pursuing legislation to implement those recommendations.
On February 22, Sen. Judy Seeberger (DFL – Afton) and Rep. John Huot (DFL – Rosemount), introduced SF 4154 and HF 4063. The legislation creates a statewide electronic registry of POLST forms available to EMS providers, emergency physicians and other appropriate providers to ensure patients’ medical treatments and end-of-life preferences are followed by all healthcare providers. Seeberger and Huot are both EMS providers.
Currently, physical paper copies of a patient’s POLST form are given to the patient before transferring. However, these copies can get damaged, misplaced, or become otherwise inaccessible. This legislation would ensure a patient’s POLST form is electronically accessible by caregivers and EMS at any time and from anywhere.
May 29, 2025
As the Legislature works to complete its work on the state’s two-year budget, another deadline is looming. Legislators are required to pass a balanced budget before the end of the fiscal year—June 30, 2025. If they don’t meet that deadline, the state will begin a partial shutdown.
May 29, 2025
Registration has opened for the Empowering Physicians: A Night of Reflection and Engagement event, featuring best-selling author Elisabeth Rosenthal, MD.
May 29, 2025
The AMA is encouraging physicians to contact their U.S. senators and urge them to revise the reconciliation bill passed recently by the U.S. House of Representatives. While the bill includes language that would stabilize Medicare physician payments, it also threatens to cripple Medicaid and CHIP.