Senate Health & Long Term Care advances 13 health bills in executive session; substitutes adopted and due-pass recommendations issued

The Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee met in executive session Feb. 21 and advanced 13 bills to the next steps in the legislative process, adopting proposed substitutes on several measures and issuing due-pass recommendations to Rules or Ways and Means as appropriate.

The committee adopted a proposed substitute for Senate Bill 5112 to create a prescribing psychologist certification, with provisions limiting which medications certified psychologists may prescribe and clarifying supervisory relationships with primary-care clinicians. Senator Bateman, the bill’s sponsor, said the measure creates an additional pathway for behavioral-health services and “for some patients, that means getting access to medication.” Senator Orwell thanked the sponsor for narrowing the bill and emphasized the importance of coordination between primary care and psychologists when medications are used alongside psychotherapy.

The panel also adopted a substitute to narrow Senate Bill 5121 on health-plan coverage for fertility-related services; the substitute removes the individual and small-group markets while retaining coverage in large-group plans and certain Medicaid provisions. Senator Slatter said the change reflects budget realities while preserving broader access goals and chamber alignment.

On patient records, the committee adopted Senator Orwell’s substitute to modify a $50 cap for providing medical records: the cap will apply to electronically stored and delivered records, the HIPAA fee schedule remains part of the statute, and an adopted striking amendment limits a $50 attorney access provision to a one-time request in a five-year window. During discussion, senators clarified that the $50 figure will appear in statute and that the limitation applies to attorneys obtaining records for the fee, not to a patient’s own requests.

Senate Bill 5351, targeting unfair dental-insurance practices, moved forward with a substitute that prohibits carriers from denying claims solely because a procedure occurred the same day and directs the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) to contract with the Ruckelshaus Center to convene stakeholders on dental loss ratios and…