MSSNY 2023 Legislative Highlights

MSSNY 2023 Legislative Highlights

Prevention of Huge Liability Increases.  After advocacy by MSSNY together with numerous allies, Governor Hochul twice vetoed legislation that would have driven up liability premiums by 40% through the expansion of the types of damages in wrongful death lawsuits.  We thank physicians for their persistent phone calls, tweets, and e-mails urging a veto, but caution that these efforts will need to be continued in 2024.

As noted in MSSNY’s press statement regarding the veto, “MSSNY stands ready to work with the Governor and the Legislature on revised legislation that would ensure legal remedies for grieving families, but at the same time protect the ability of New York’s physicians, hospitals, and other health care workers to continue to deliver the care our patients expect and deserve”.

Public Health Wins: MSSNY advocated for the passage of significant legislation signed into law by Governor Hochul that will benefit patients and their treating physicians.

• 463-A/S.2677-A – Stronger Protections Against Step Therapy.

Requires health insurers to provide more detailed information and appeal rights to patients and their physicians when a health plan has denied a request to its override step therapy/fail first medication protocol.

• A1673-A/S.1196-A – Expands Patient Access to Biomarker Testing.

Requires health insurers to cover biomarker testing for diagnosis, treatment, or management of a patient’s disease when the test is supported by medical and scientific evidence.

• 6017/S.3449 – Immunity for Physician Committees.

Expands the existing liability immunity protection for the physicians serving on MSSNY’s Committee for Physicians Health program to include MSSNY itself.

 State Budget Wins: Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature enacted a $229 billion state budget for fiscal year 2023-24. This budget package produced several significant victories for organized medicine following months of extensive advocacy by MSSNY, together with county and specialty medical societies. These victories include:

• Prior Authorization Reform.

Prohibits a health insurer from denying an appealed claim or prior-authorization request for lack of medical necessity unless the claim is reviewed by a physician in the same or specialty as the patient’s treating physician.

• Excess Medical Malpractice Insurance Program.

Continues the Excess Medical Malpractice Insurance Program for nearly 16,000 physicians without new conditions or cost impositions.

• Medical Student Loan Relief.

Maintains the expanded level of funding ($15.8 Million) for the Doctors Across New York medical student loan repayment program.

• Health Insurance Guaranty Fund.

Creates a Health Insurance Guaranty Fund to cover patient and health provider claims if an insurer becomes insolvent.

• Increasing Medicaid Payments.

Increases payment for Medicaid E&M codes to 80% Medicare.

• Funding MSSNY’s Committee for Physicians’ Health.

Extends MSSNY’s Committee for Physicians’ Health program until 2028 with its full $990,000 appropriation.

• Supporting Veterans.

Continues funding the Veterans Mental Health Training Initiative, an educational partnership between MSSNY, the NYS Psychiatric Association, and the National Association of Social Workers.

• Tobacco Prevention.

Raising cigarette taxes by $1/pack and increasing funding for education and cessation efforts.

Preserving Right to Bring Disputes to IDR. MSSNY successfully advocated to the NY Department of Financial Services that physicians can bring to IDR post-stabilization claims for Medicaid Managed Care enrolled patients.

The Legislature ended its scheduled 2023 Session without passing any of the litany of inappropriate scope expansion bills, including:

S.66-A/A.1262-A to give psychologists prescribing rights

A.5012/S.5520 to permit PAs to practice independently.

A.2217-A/S.2254 to permit podiatrists to treat up to the knee.

S.6800/A.6445 – to make permanent current temporary provisions for NPs to practice without physician collaboration.

S.769-A/A.6958-A to allow CRNAs to administer anesthesia without physician oversight.

Other notable bills signed into law include: 

• A.5985/S.4401 – Requires DOH and SED to develop and maintain a database of CME coursework for physicians on nutrition.  MSSNY had worked with the sponsors to revise the bill from earlier versions that would have required physicians to complete such coursework.
• A.219/S.942 – changes the scope of practice for athletic trainers.  MSSNY worked with the sponsors of the legislation over many years, as well as various specialty societies, to ensure that the bill provisions did not encroach upon the practice of medicine.
• A.1707/S.599 – requires drug manufacturers to provide 60-day notice to DFS of their intent to increase a drug’s price if such price has increased by at least 16% in the previous 24 months.
• A.4907-A/A.6275-A – prohibits the reporting of medical debt to collection agencies.

 Notable Vetoes. The Governor vetoed legislation (S3100-A/A1278-B) that would have prohibited all non-compete clauses in future employment contracts.  MSSNY had heard from physicians on both sides of this issue, with some physicians and specialty societies urging for the bill to be signed into law as written, while other physicians (representing large medical groups) urging that the bill be vetoed or significantly narrowed.  Given the extensive interest by the Governor and the Legislature in seeking to limit the use of non-compete agreements, this issue will continue to be a major source of discussion for 2024.