Senate Health and Welfare approves multiple Health & Welfare rule dockets; debate centers on behavioral health medical-necessity language

The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Jan. 9, 2025, approved a package of administrative rule dockets from the Department of Health and Welfare that included updates to newborn screening rules, changes to drinking-water laboratory fees, clarifications on release of department records in child-welfare cases, and multiple rule repeals tied to the state's shift of behavioral-health service delivery into contracts with Magellan.

Committee members were told the rule changes are largely technical, part of a Zero-Based Regulation (ZBR) review to remove outdated or duplicative language, and to align rules with contracts and federal requirements. Jared Larson, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Chief for the Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee that several chapters were repealed or consolidated and that most dockets do not change how programs operate.

The newborn screening docket revises rule language to remove outdated and duplicative text and, where appropriate, changes some internal department obligations from "must" to "should" for laboratory processes. Larson said those internal wording shifts "do not constitute any sort of substantive change in how we operate or carry out this program." Senator Shippy asked whether parental informed consent is required; Larson said newborn screening has been required in Idaho code since 1921 and that Idaho law includes a religious exemption but that he was "not certain if there is" an informed-consent requirement in rule or code.

The committee approved changes to the Idaho Drinking Water Laboratory Certification Program that include increased certification fees and the incorporation by reference of Supplement 2 to the EPA manual for certification of laboratories analyzing drinking water. Dr. Christopher Ball, chief of the Bureau of Laboratories within the Division of Public Health, said the docket proposes raising the annual base certification fee for Idaho drinking-water chemistry labs from $50 to $100, moving microbiology testing to a flat annual fee of $150, and increasing out-of-state chemistry lab fees from $50 to $200. The department estimated the net annual increase in receipts at about $8,300. Ball also said the Supplement 2 incorporation (published 2012) adds requirements for testing for the parasites Giardia and Cryptosporidium, and that "there are currently no laboratories in the state of Idaho that are certified to do that testing so there's should be really no impact to the state."

Several dockets reflected the department's change from direct service provider to contract manager after…