The SC General Assembly Adjourned on Thursday, May 11, 2023.
All bills that did not pass by May 11, 2023 are still 'in play' until May of 2024. The General Assembly meets for 2-year sessions, with 2023 the first of the current 2 years.
A scope expansion bill for nurse practitioners and nurse midwives was introduced by Senator Tom Davis and a companion bill was introduced in the House.
Repeal of the Certificate of Need (CON), passed both the House and the Senate, and was signed into law by the Governor.
After a bitter battle in the SC Senate, the Fetal Heartbeat Bill was passed and signed into law by the Governor. It was promptly challenged in court. The new SC Supreme Court ruled against the challengers, and the law went into effect.
Repeal of Do Not Compete clauses are still before the General Assembly and likely to be taken up again in the 2024 session.
The control and impact on your practice does not begin and end with the General Assembly. Laws are passed by the Legislature and then they are put into work by the various regulatory bodies, such as LLR, DHEC, the SC Insurance Department and even the Office of the Attorney General.
BCBS, Medicare, Medicaid, Workers Comp, MCOs, Commercial Insurance Companies, the SC State Health Plan, etc. combine to make up your bottom line.
The SCSA works to increase, wherever and whenever possible your reimbursement. We meet regularly with the state based payers of Medicaid, BCBS, Workers Comp and SC State Health Plan, and we communicate with various national commercial payers when needed.
The SCSA was successful this year, with an increase in the Medicaid unit rate. The unit rate was also increased by the SC Workers Compensation Commission after years of work by the SCSA. Both of these payers had not increased our rates in more than 10 years.
The Federal 'No Surprises Act' has changed the game in favor of the insurance industry. Together with the ASA, the SCSA is working to address the unfair advantages being sought out by the health insurance industry. To that end, the IDRC (Independent Dispute Resolution Commission) has been suspended after overwhelming complaints from physicians and other providers who allege abuses in the program. Stay tuned for how and if this will be repaired.
