The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) advocacy team monitors healthcare related legislation, rule changes, and legislative updates for Ohio’s family physicians.
To access the OAFP Bill Tracker, visit the OAFP Public Policy webpage and click on the Bill Tracker icon.
Read on for this week’s updates and contact Advocacy Coordinator Kaela Springhetti with questions or for ways to get involved.
Ohio House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill Allowing Parents to Access Child’s Medical Records
Source: Statehouse News Bureau
The Ohio House has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would require healthcare professionals to give parents access to a minor’s health records to the fullest extent of the law.
There are some things children can do without parental ok, including donating blood, getting a rape kit, or getting certain medical tests. Those are protected by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, otherwise known as HIPAA.
The sponsor of House Bill 162, known as the “My Child-My Chart Act,” is Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery, OH). He said it will require primary doctors to make medical records available to parents even though federal law has limits.
“We had to thread the needle on this bill because much of it applies to HIPAA, and HIPAA is federal law, and we don’t have any control over federal law.”
Rep. Click said he’s heard from constituents whose inability to access their child’s online medical profile caused a variety of problems. In one case, the parent was turned over to a collection agency for a medical bill their child incurred without the parents’ knowledge, and the parent couldn’t access their child’s record online. In another case, a parent was unable to schedule their child for a time-sensitive surgery after being denied access to their record in an online app.
“The problem is some parents didn’t know what they didn’t know. And now they will at least know and they will be able to act appropriately and accordingly on that,” Rep. Click said.
All House Republicans and most Democrats voted for the bill. But Representative Anita Somani (D-Dublin, OH), who is a doctor, is opposed it. She stressed that she wants parents involved in the medical care of their children, but she’s worried about the way this bill was written.
“I’m concerned that parts of this bill might unintentionally be asking providers to put themselves in danger of violating HIPAA privacy rules,” Rep. Somani said.
Rep. Somani and five other Democrats voted against the bill, which now goes on to the Senate.
Judge Puts Temporary Hold on Gov. DeWine’s Intoxicating Hemp Ban
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
A judge in Franklin County has temporarily blocked Governor Mike DeWine’s short-term ban on intoxicating hemp products (Source: Ohio Judge Blocks Gov. DeWine’s Ban on Hemp for at Least Two Weeks, Statehouse News Bureau, October 14, 025).
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Carl Aveni granted a 14-day restraining order in the case from the bench on October 14, saying the state order was “antithetical” to the existing definition of hemp in the Ohio Revised Code (ORC).
“The court is concerned the governor is adding new definitions that don’t exist,” Judge Aveni said.
In a recently filed lawsuit, three Ohio-based hemp businesses argued Gov. DeWine was acting outside his authority by announcing a 90-day ban on hemp products with psychoactive ingredients, like delta-8 THC or THC-A. Judge Aveni largely agreed.
Just hours before the lawsuit was filed, Gov. DeWine signed an executive order that sought to redefine hemp by excluding “intoxicating hemp” from the ORC’s definition of hemp, and declared an adulterated consumer product emergency. That emergency declaration gave retailers statewide until the morning of October 14 to clear their shelves of any products fitting that definition.
Feds Signal That Rural Health Fund Money Should Only Be Used to ‘Reshape’ Healthcare
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
As states race to win their share of a new $50 billion rural health fund, federal officials have signaled that the money cannot be used to maintain regular operations at rural hospitals (Source: States Jostle Over $50B Rural Health Fund as Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Trigger Scramble, KFF Health News, October 17, 2025).
States should submit applications that “rebuild and reshape” how healthcare is delivered in rural communities, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) official Abe Sutton said late last month during a daylong meeting on the fund. Simply changing the way government pays hospitals has been tried and has failed, Abe Sutton told the audience of more than 40 governors’ office staffers and state health agency leaders.
“This isn’t a backfill of operating budgets,” said Abe Sutton, CMS’ innovation director. “We’ve been really clear on that.”
Rural hospitals and clinics nationwide face a looming financial catastrophe, with the federal spending bill HR 1 expected to slash federal Medicaid spending on healthcare in rural areas by $137 billion over 10 years, according to KFF estimates. Congressional Republicans added the one-time, five-year Rural Health Transformation Program as a last-minute sweetener to win the support of conservative holdouts who worried about the bill’s financial fallout for rural hospitals.
Applications are due Wednesday, November 5. The money will be awarded to states by the end of the year and distributed over five years. Half of the $50 billion will be divided equally among all states with an approved application; the other half will go to states that win points. Of the second half, $12.5 billion will be allotted based on a formula that calculates each state’s rurality. The remaining $12.5 billion will go to states that score well on initiatives and policies that mirror the Trump Administration’s Make America Healthy Again objectives.
Democratic Governors Launch Multistate Public Health Alliance to Counter Trump, RFK Jr.
Source: Ohio Capital Journal
In a clear rebuke of recent federal health policy, 15 Democratic governors recently announced they’ve formed a public health alliance that breaks with guidance from the Trump Administration and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
It’s the largest move by states to diverge from recent policy decisions under HHS Secretary Kennedy that have alarmed medical and public health experts, from federal funding cuts for health services to changes to vaccine guidance.
The participating governors are from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington, as well as the U.S. territory of Guam.
“This alliance is a commitment to transparency, preparedness, and coordination so that no state faces health threats alone,” Delaware Governor Matt Meyer said in a statement.
“By working together, governors can share data, resources, and lessons learned to strengthen our preparedness for the next public health challenge.”
The new Governors Public Health Alliance is intended to strengthen collaboration among the states in emergency preparedness and communication, to help them share data and expertise, and to improve response times to health threats. Although the participating governors are all Democrats, they’re billing the coalition as nonpartisan.
The new alliance comes on the heels of previous regional coordination efforts such as the West Coast Health Alliance between California, Oregon, and Washington.
In recent months, at least 17 states have sidestepped federal guidance and promoted broader access to the COVID-19 vaccine. Those moves came in the wake of new COVID-19 vaccine guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration, both under the leadership of HHS Secretary Kennedy, a well-known vaccine skeptic.
“As extremists try to weaponize the CDC and spread misinformation, we’re stepping up to coordinate across states, protect communities, and ensure decisions are driven by data, facts, and the health of the American people,” California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
Meanwhile, major professional societies such as the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have released their own guidance that diverges from federal policy on a number of issues, from vaccines to autism.
The new Governors Public Health Alliance will be supported by the nonprofit Governors Action Alliance, or GovAct, an initiative overseen by a group of former governors that include both Republicans and Democrats.