Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) President Teresa Zryd, MD, MSPH, FAAFP; OAFP President-Elect Doug Harley, DO, FAAFP; Executive Vice President (EVP) Ann Spicer; and Deputy EVP Kate Mahler, CAE, represented the Academy at the Ohio Coalition of Primary Care Physicians meeting held on January 28. Sarah Sams, MD, FAAFP, OAFP’s representative to the Ohio Department of Health Child and Material Health Group, participated in a portion of the meeting. The meeting was hosted via Zoom by the Ohio Society of Internal Medicine.
Malcolm Porter set the stage by predicting the Ohio General Assembly’s activity in the second year of the biennium. The second year is typically much slower than the first year as legislators are focused on running for re-election and campaigning back in their home districts. A brisk lame duck session after the general election in November is anticipated however.
Jennifer Hayhurst, Ohio State Medical Association’s director of regulatory affairs, provided a helpful review of the rules being drafted that impact the physician community.
- Telehealth – The State Medical Board of Ohio (SMBO) is currently redrafting rules for telehealth and for controlled substance and telehealth prescribing to align with HB 122 which passed in December, 2022. The legislation requires that the SMBO relax many of the restrictions that were in place pre-pandemic. The SMBO recently released its first set of draft telehealth rules and is holding meetings to gather information from stakeholders about their concerns. The OAFP has been actively engaged in these stakeholder meetings. The SMBO has made it very clear that this is just a starting point for rules and that several drafts will likely be needed before the rule-making process is completed (will take maybe as much as 6 months). In the meantime, the moratorium on enforcement of current rules, which is presently in effect until Thursday, March 31, will be extended until the entire process for promulgating new rules is complete.
- Weight Loss Prescribing Rules – Medical organizations have long complained about the overly restrictive nature of Ohio’s weight loss prescribing rules. The SMBO has finally responded to relax some of those restrictions to bring them more in line with what other state’s do.
- Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Rules – The SMBO has until September 2022 to draft rules for Ohio’s participation in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. The SMBO surveyed physicians to determine how many physician are initially interested in participating in the compact. The response was much greater than the SMBO anticipated. The comment period for proposed rule closed January 31.
- Surprise Billing Rules – The surprise billing law prohibits balance billing a patient for their unanticipated out-of-network care above the patient’s in-network rate for emergency care or, in certain circumstances, unanticipated out-of-network care. The Ohio Department of Insurance’s (ODI) surprise billing rules are now in effect. ODI created a surprise billing toolkit for patients, physicians, and insurers. Also provided on the ODI website is a helpful FAQ for patients, physicians and insurers.
Vaccine Legislation – It looks as though bills prohibiting vaccine mandates are dead. The anti-vaxers, led by the Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, have turned their focus to collecting signatures for an initiated statute on vaccine mandate prohibition. It is expensive (estimated at $1.8 million) to undertake a successful initiated statute effort. The Ohio Attorney General has already, twice, rejected their initiated statute language.
Medical Marijuana – Senate Bill 261 which relaxes restrictions on medical marijuana moved quickly through the Senate and is pending in the House. House Bill 498 supports recreational use of marijuana in Ohio. Supporters of recreational marijuana are interested in using the initiated statute and do have the necessary funding to make this happen, therefore, the General Assembly is likely going to want to pass something to head this off.
Medicaid Coverage for Post-Partum Women – Dr. Sams asked that coalition members promote the extension of Medicaid coverage to one year for post-partum women. That coverage goes into effect in April 2022.
The next meeting of the Ohio Coalition of Primary Care physicians will be held on a date to be determined in early June 2022.