Senate Health and Welfare panel approves series of Health and Welfare rule dockets; affirms Magellan behavioral-health contracts

BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Jan. 9 approved a package of administrative rule dockets from the Department of Health and Welfare that the department said streamline regulations, remove duplicative language and reflect the department’s contractual shift of behavioral-health services to Magellan.

The measures approved included rule repeals and updates touching newborn screening, drinking-water laboratory certification fees, use and disclosure of department records (including child-welfare information sharing), foster-care licensing alignment, repeal of state hospital fee rules, changes to substance-use-disorder (SUD) and mental-health rules to reflect the Magellan contract that took effect July 1, 2024, and a broad rewrite of the Medicaid Basic Plan chapter.

Committee members and department officials said the rule changes are largely housekeeping and intended to reduce repetition of federal requirements in state rules while leaving statutory obligations intact. The committee approved each docket by motion and voice vote; several items prompted questions from senators and a public comment on children’s mental-health rules.

The most consequential set of dockets removed language that portrayed the Department as a direct provider of SUD and mental-health services and instead aligns the rules with the department’s new role as contract manager under the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan with Magellan, which began July 1, 2024. Jared Larson, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Chief for the Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee the statutory obligations for providing those services remain in state law and the changes do not remove the services themselves.

Peyton Darst, representing the Idaho Behavioral Health Association, testified in support of a provision that allows recognition of an additional certification body for SUD provider credentialing. “I stand before you in full support of these rules, specifically related to the addition of another credentialing, certification, allowing that reciprocity, to add to our workforce,…