At its meeting on January 19, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors adopted positions on five pieces of legislation under consideration by the Ohio General Assembly. Those positions are as follows:
- The OAFP strongly opposes House Bill (HB) 413, a proposal that creates the capital offense of aggravated abortion murder and the offense of abortion murder, on the basis that it criminalizes the practice of medicine. This bill requires re-implantation of an ecoptic pregnancy into the uterus. The bill makes the failure to do so by the physician a capital-one murder offense subjecting the physician to a possible death penalty sentence. Of course, medical technology does not currently exist to make re-implantation of an ecoptic pregnancy a real thing. The bill has already negatively impacted patient-physician relationships as some women have come to their physicians very angry that they were not offered this option when experiencing an ecoptic pregnancy. Referred to the House Criminal Justice Committee, HB 413 is not expected to pass, nevertheless, the board felt that the OAFP should testify against.
- The OAFP strongly supports House Bill 443/Senate Bill 254, proposals regarding mental health and substance abuse parity. Both measures will ensure that Ohioans have access to mental health and substance abuse treatment by prohibiting insurers from covering illnesses of the brain more restrictively than illnesses of the rest of the body. Ohio law currently does not align with federal law and this legislation would result in alignment. The board felt that given the amount of mental health care that family physicians provide to their patients, the OAFP should weigh in on this legislation.
- The OAFP supports the House Bill 407 (the clinician identity and medical accuracy act). This legislation requires that medical legislative mandates be consistent with applicable health and professional standards, evidence-based, medically accurate, and recognized by legitimate medical organizations such as the American Academy of Family Physicians. This bill is a back door approach to fighting legislative mandates like the one attempting to require the re-implantation of an ecoptic pregnancy.
- The OAFP supports House Bill 412, which creates the Ohio Rare Disease Advisory Council. This bill is an attempt to improve public policy for people with rare “orphan” diseases. Legislation requires broad participation from different health care sectors in Ohio. The Ohio Rare Disease Advisory Council will serve as an educational resource to all stakeholders about the ways in which rare disease patients interact with the health system.
- The OAFP supports House Bill 432/Senate Bill 246, bills that pertain to occupational license reciprocity. This legislation would require an occupational licensing authority, including the State Medical Board of Ohio, to issue a license or government certification to an applicant who holds a license, government certification, or private certification or has satisfactory work experience in another state under certain circumstances. This bill addresses problems/delays that military spouses have with relocation to different states and the fact that occupational licensing authorities in Ohio may take up to one year to issue occupational licenses to applicants licensed in other states.