Committee adopts DE2 of Health Finance Bill, approves merge into children's package and recommends HF2435 to general register

The House Ways and Means Committee on the motion of Chair Bierman adopted the DE2 amendment that substitutes the Health Finance Bill (House File 2,435) as amended, then approved motions to incorporate language from House File 2,436 (Children and Families) into the health bill as separate articles and recommended HF2435 as amended for placement on the general register.

Co-chair Representative Bierman said the DE2 health bill responds to a mandated reduction in the committee target while addressing access and provider stability. Provisions summarized by Bierman and co-chair Backer include extending audio-only telehealth in public programs; a directed dispensing payment program to support certain pharmacies; modified licensing requirements for graduates of foreign medical schools; opioid measures that include education and antagonists; expansion of the state's rare disease network; newborn screening for metachromatic leukodystrophy; creating a state pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) for Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare; and a directed hospital payment program intended to be net neutral to the state budget and to draw down additional federal funds to increase reimbursements toward Medicare levels for Medical Assistance.

Bierman said the directed hospital payment program will effectively raise over $1,000,000,000 to provide higher reimbursement rates; the committee transcript records that "every hospital in the state is participating in this program." Representative Backer added that the bill includes investments in county-based purchasing clarifications, medical rate increases, dementia services funding, and additional support for ambulance/EMS providers.

Bierman and Backer reported an EMS investment of $38,100,000 in the first biennium and noted "41.4" in the second biennium as stated in the transcript; the transcript did not specify units for the second figure. On pharmacy-directed dispensing payments, Bierman said federal approval is not required, funding comes from the state budget, the program is limited to non–PBM-owned pharmacies, and chains larger than 13 locations would not qualify for the direct payment. Representative Joaquin asked a question about federal approval and Bierman answered that federal approval is not required.

The DE2 amendment was adopted by voice vote; the committee then approved motions to merge HF2436 into HF2435 and voted to recommend House File 2,435 as amended for placement on the general register, directing nonpartisan staff to make technical corrections and amend the title. The transcript records voice votes for those motions and the chair's declarations of passage; no roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript.