Priorities

This week Republican leadership in the House and Senate put their chambers to work on two separate pieces of legislation they have been touting as priorities all year. The House spent the week debating HJR 73, relating to reproductive health care. This resolution calls for a ballot measure to repeal and replace much of Amendment three, which was recently approved during the November election. The provisions in HJR 73 would, upon voter approval, prohibit abortions, except in cases of medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, or incest. The House passed HJR 73 before leaving for a long holiday weekend.

Meanwhile across the rotunda, the Senate took a stab at HB 567. This legislation would replace and repeal much of the new Proposition A law passed during the November election. Prop A instituted a generous increase to the state minimum wage. Another important provision to Prop A mandates paid sick leave requirements on Missouri businesses. Prop A went into effect on April 15. These new provisions can be quite costly and burdensome on our friends in independent practice. On April 16, the Senate worked to set the implementation of the minimum wage raise back to 2026 as well as repeal the requirement for paid time off. They were unable to move forward with HB 567 this week. It is noteworthy to mention there is litigation pending before the Supreme Court as to the validity of Prop A. Proponents from the business community are optimistic that the court will rule Prop A unconstitutional at the end of the month.

At the close of this week there are 17 days remining to this legislative session. Next week is a short one due to a long weekend for Easter. The budget usually takes about a week to finalize. The constitutional deadline for the passage of the budget this session is Friday, May 9. Capitol denizens agree it seems like these two priorities are set up to be the final votes cast in the 2025 session.

New Beautiful Bouncing Baby Omnibus Healthcare Bills are Born

The House Health and Mental Health Committee seems committed to helping us move prior authorization reform! This week they advanced two bills relating to healthcare with our prior auth reform priority on both in addition to several other ideas we like!

One of the bills, SB 79, was heard and voted on during the same hearing. The original purpose of the bill was to allow member organizations to offer health benefit plans. Now this omnibus bill is even better! The committee added not only our prior auth reform language, but also several other bills including; audio-only telehealth parity, adaptive questionnaires (with our fixes), expedited partner therapy, extra round of prenatal testing, insurance coverage for 12-month supply of birth control and cochlear implants, and reporting of mammogram results. This bill is the source of the monkey business to tie up our important prior auth reform bill in the Senate.

The other bill passed out of committee and now carrying several of our priorities is SB 94. The original bill added audio-only to the definition of telehealth services. Now, thanks to the work of the committee it includes prior auth reform, insurance anesthesia coverage, deterrence to assaults on healthcare workers, healthcare worker loan repayment program, as well as all the women’s health initiatives listed above. We are going to watch over these precious little bundles of good healthcare legislation like protective eagles watch over their fledglings.

APRN Scope Expansion Bills Get a Vote

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Emerging Issues and Professional Registration gave approval to all the bills in their possession that would expand the scope of practice for APRNs. The two bills (SB 144 and SB 179) that would allow APRNs to transition to independent practice were combined and passed. The other bill to pass was SB 832. It would allow APRNs to prescribe all schedule II drugs. On the upside, time is running out for these bad ideas to make it all the way to the governor. On the downside, we will have to be extra vigilant for unfriendly amendments.

Rules and Regulations Update

On the regulatory side of things, the Governor recently appointed a new public member to the Board of Healing Arts – Tom Wardenhause of Jefferson City. The BoHA is comprised of eight physicians members and one public voting member. Currently seven of the eight physician members are serving on expired terms. Ian Fawks, DO, and Dorothy Munch, DO, serve as osteopathic representatives on the Board. If you have an interest in serving as a member of the Board of Healing Arts, let Executive Director Brian Bowles know, and he can help get the ball rolling.

The Board of Healing Arts met in Jefferson City this morning with Executive Director Brian Bowles and lobbyist Rachel Bauer in attendance. An ongoing battle with the physical therapy association continued as they continued to complain about the Board’s interpretation of state law regarding physician employment of physical therapists. This has been an ongoing issue for years, but for the past two years has been a consistent agenda item. It is obvious the PT association doesn’t want physicians employing physical therapists, which doesn’t make a lot of sense since they have no apparent issue with hospital systems employing them. While the PT’s want rapid resolution to the issue, it is doubtful they will get their wish anytime soon as the Board chose not to rescind current rule which allows physicians to employ PTs as long as they inform patients of their financial relationship and offer alternatives to their own service. The Board is working on some rules amendments that would better clarify current practices.

Doc of the Day Busy with Advocacy

Student Physician Hailey VanRonzelen, OMS III, KCU-Joplin joined our lobbyist in Jefferson City this week! Legislators are always grateful to hear directly from members of the profession regarding important legislation like HB 618.

SAVE THE DATE: Physician Advocacy Day 2026 will be March 3, 2026!