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.
April Issue of AAFP’s Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has released its April issue of Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds, a monthly tip sheet to educate, engage, and update you on the latest policy issues affecting family physicians and their patients.
- AAFP Urges DHS to Expedite Visas for IMGs
- Family Physicians Weigh in on AHEAD Proposed Rule
- AAFP Voices Support for Chronic Care Management Legislation
- AAFP Supports Event for LEAD Model
- NASEM Meeting Spotlights Primary Care
- AAFP CEO Testifies Before Congress on U.S. Health Care Affordability.
Bipartisan Ohio Senate Bill Would Create Up To 14 Weeks of Paid Family and Medical Leave
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
A pair of bipartisan Ohio senators want to create a state-funded family and medical leave insurance program (Source: Bipartisan Bill Would Give Ohio Workers Up To 14 Weeks of Job-Protected Family and Medical Leave, Ohio Capital Journal, April 29).
Ohio state Senators Beth Liston (D-Dublin, OH) and Bill Blessing (R-Colerain Township, OH) introduced Ohio Senate Bill 396, which would provide Ohio workers with up to 14 weeks of job-protected paid leave for personal medical needs, caring for seriously ill family members, or caring for new children.
According to a study from the National Partnership for Women and Families, 76% of Ohioans do not have paid family leave through their jobs.
The bill would create a paid family leave fund maintained by the state from an additional payroll contribution from both employees and employers of about 0.4%. The family and medical leave insurance fund would be in the custody of the treasurer of state, but not part of the state treasury.
Under the bill, workers would be paid 85% of their pay with a maximum benefit up to $1,231 per week. An employee would also have their job protected while they are on leave.
According to a 2024 HPIO publication titled Creating a Financially Prosperous Ohio: Strategies to Improve Family Financial Security, “Paid leave, including family and sick leave, contributes to several positive outcomes, such as increased healthcare access, improved health outcomes, increased labor force participation, and improved infant health.
CMS Expands Fraud Crackdown to All 50 State Medicaid Programs
Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said recently that the Trump Administration will require every state within 30 days to turn in a plan to revalidate the healthcare providers that participate in their Medicaid programs (Source: In Medicaid Fraud Crackdown, Feds Now Looking to Audit All 50 States, Stateline, April 21).
The Trump Administration has pledged to root out what it calls rampant fraud in state Medicaid programs. But thus far, it has focused almost exclusively on Democratic-led states, even though fraud involving government benefits isn’t any more prevalent in Democratic-led states than in Republican-led ones, according to federal data.
Dr. Oz said recently that the administration will expand its Medicaid anti-fraud effort to all 50 states.
“We’re asking the states to own that problem…red and blue, all of them,” Dr. Oz said during a health care summit hosted by Politico. “If you don’t take it seriously, it indicates to us that we might have to take the audits…more aggressively,” he added.
PBMs, Medicaid Debate Trade Secrets, Contract Law at 10th District
Source: Hannah News
A Kasich-era dispute over whether the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) could publicly release a consultant’s report on controversial pharmacy pricing practices went before 10th District appellate judges for oral argument recently.
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office and counsel for pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) Caremark and OptumRx debated the continued relevance of eight-year-old data, the meaning of contract provisions between the ODM and consultant HealthPlan Data Solutions (HDS), and the implications of failed redactions in another state that revealed sensitive data.
In the final years of the Kasich Administration, the ODM released the executive summary of a report from HDS on the extent of “spread pricing” practices by PBMs under contract with Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs), finding the PBMs billed for 8.8% more than they paid to pharmacies. The ODM subsequently ordered an end to spread pricing, and during the DeWine Administration the state moved to having a single PBM for all of Medicaid.
Caremark and Optum sued the ODM later in 2018 to block the release of the full report, arguing it included trade secrets exempt from disclosure under public records laws. Seven years later, in 2025, Judge Andrew Miller of Franklin County Common Pleas Court ruled in favor of the PBMs. The ODM appealed to the 10th District Court of Appeals.
Julie Brigner with the attorney general’s office, representing the ODM, argued that the case deals with “outdated information in an obsolete report that appellees failed to protect.”
Read the full article in Hannah News.
Ohioans Can Access Mifepristone Abortion Pill by Mail for Another Week
Source: The Columbus Dispatch
Ohioans can obtain a common abortion pill by mail through at least May 11, but the future of access to mifepristone remains precarious.
On May 4, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a one-week pause on a nationwide ban on obtaining the abortion drug mifepristone by mail. The court could extend the reprieve.
The ruling came after the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirement that the drug only be dispensed in person.
Drug makers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro appealed that May 1st decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued the one-week pause.
These rulings underscore the instability of abortion access even in states like Ohio that voted to protect it.
Kellie Copeland, executive director of Abortion Forward, condemned the abortion restrictions.
“The actions by one federal court in Louisiana are both a drastic overreach impacting patients far outside their jurisdiction and an unacceptable blockade against people in need of options,” said Copeland, who advocated for the 2023 abortion rights amendment. “An abortion ban anywhere impacts access everywhere.”
Read the full article in The Columbus Dispatch.