The SC General Assembly will reconvene for year 2 of the 2025-26 session on January 6, 2026
The long awaited ratio expansion bill for AAs was finally passed by both bodies of the General Assembly and signed by the Governor in May 2025. This was a 20 year effort. The opening of an AA School in Spartanburg by VCOM and Clemson certainly changed the tide on support for the AAs.
Medical Affairs Committee Chairman, Senator Danny Verdin introduced the Team Based Health Care Act (S.0669) on the last day of the 2025 session. This is a great bill that would codify physician led care in South Carolina. This bill is strongly opposed by the APRNs and their champions in the Senate (Senator Tom Davis and Senator Brad Hutto).
All other bills that did not pass by the end of May are still 'in play' until May of 2026. The General Assembly meets for 2-year sessions, with 2026 the second of the current 2 years.
Senator Tom Davis' independent practice bill for APRNs, excluding CRNAs, is still in committee, as well as his bills for pharmacists and optometrists.
Bills to repeal Do Not Compete clauses in contracts, are still before the General Assembly.
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.
