Health and Welfare committee approves series of Department rule dockets, including newborn screening and Medicaid changes

The Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee approved a package of rule dockets from the Department of Health and Welfare, voting to adopt or approve all items on the day's agenda after discussion on several. Major actions included extending temporary hospital licensing rules, adopting updates to the newborn screening chapter, increasing certain drinking-water laboratory fees, and approving the department's proposed changes that reflect the transfer of direct behavioral-health service delivery to the state's new managed-care contractor.

The approvals came during a full committee meeting in which department staff said some chapters were narrowed because they duplicate federal requirements or are being incorporated into statute. Jared Larson, legislative and regulatory affairs chief for the Department of Health and Welfare, told members that the newborn screening changes “do not change any of the process of how the screening is conducted.” He also explained that several rule chapters were being pared back because they “repeat CMS regulations, state Medicaid rules, and or state waiver authority.”

Why it matters: the package…