The “crossover” deadline this legislative session was May 16. In order for the bills to receive further consideration, they must have passed through at least one chamber of the Legislature. Bills that have not “crossed over” by the deadline are basically dead, as long as they don’t have a financial component. This is especially helpful because it narrows the focus of legislators and advocates.

So, where are we on issues of interest?

Many of the bills that NCMS opposed did not make crossover, and therefore will not be considered until 2014. Some of those bills include the decriminalization of lay midwives, a bill requiring parental consent for the treatment of minors, a bill allowing certified nurse midwives (CNM) to practice without the supervision of a physician, and a bill that would have repealed helmet requirements for motorcyclists.

More importantly, much of the legislation that NCMS supports did meet the crossover deadline. This includes a bill banning the use of tanning beds by minors, which passed the House with bipartisan support; a bill codifying existing law on the supervision of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA), which also enjoys bipartisan support; and lastly, a bill expanding pharmacists’ immunizing authority passed the House.

There have been many successes, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The Medicaid program is under much scrutiny as part of the budgeting process and will be subject to reform. There has been serious discussion about using commercial managed care organizations as part of the Medicaid reform plan. The NCMS is strongly opposed to the use of such entities based on decades of experience in which such organizations have been repeatedly disproven as a viable model to finance Medicaid. Those negative experiences stand in sharp contrast to the current generation of physician-driven, patient-centered efforts to manage chronic conditions and other high-cost medical events. The NCMS supports broader use of these truly innovative approaches in order to reform Medicaid more quickly and effectively.

As we move forward, member engagement is critical to our legislative victories.  A healthy NCMS PAC is imperative to our advocacy effectiveness.  Please, make a PAC gift today by clicking here. By making a PAC contribution you will receive bi-weekly advocacy updates in our PAC Pulse e-publication. We need everyone’s support to accomplish our goals. If you have any questions, or would like to contribute by phone, please call me at (919) 833-3836.