Conferees accept federal definition of "life-threatening" in HB 701-FN but leave eligibility, provider scope and conscience protections unresolved

Conferees on House Bill 701-FN, a bill addressing access to investigational drugs, biologics and devices for patients with terminal illnesses, agreed to adopt federal language for defining "life-threatening" or "terminal" illness but did not resolve three major outstanding issues: the definition of an eligible facility, which licensed providers may offer investigational treatments, and legal protections for physicians who decline to provide requested treatments.

Senators and representatives spent substantial time debating the definition of a terminal or life-threatening condition. Several conferees recommended relying on federal standards. One conferee read the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation at 21 C.F.R. § 312.81, which the participants said defines "life-threatening" to include diseases where "the likelihood of death is high unless the course of…