Senate members agree to package three provider bills for conference committee

Members of the Senate discussed and signaled support to combine three provider-related bills into a single package and move that package to a health committee conference, according to remarks during the meeting.

The chair summarized the effort as centered on accessing the Healthcare Stabilization Fund and then asked staff for a technical review. "Being able to access the Healthcare Stabilization Fund, and well, that pretty much sums it up," the chair said.

The discussion focused on three measures: the contents of House Bill 2335, House Bill 2039 and House Bill 2280. A Senate member said the Senate's position was to add the contents of 2335 to the other two provider bills so the three could be considered together. Jenna, a staff member, reviewed the bills in detail.

Jenna said House Bill 2,039 would amend definitions in the Kansas Credentialing Act to clarify that entities providing physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology would not be classified as home health agencies, removing the additional regulatory requirements that apply to home health agencies for providers limited to those therapy services. She described House Bill 2,280 as an EMS-focused modernization: it would remove requirements that EMS personnel be continuously on the phone or radio with a health care provider while providing care, require registration of automated external defibrillator devices, and allow ambulance services in counties with populations of 30,000 or less to operate with one person who is an EMT or paramedic. Jenna also confirmed that the contents of House Bill 2,335 had come out of the insurance committee and were proposed to be incorporated into the other provider bills.

A Senate member noted that the two bills reviewed by staff had "passed out of both houses unanimously," referring to the bills under discussion, and members present expressed no objection to combining the measures. The group planned to take the combined package to the health committee at 9:30 for further consideration.

There was no roll-call vote recorded at the meeting on the combination; members expressed assent during discussion but did not record a formal vote on the floor. The meeting then moved to adjournment.

The measures under discussion would change how some therapy providers are regulated under the Kansas Credentialing Act, modify EMS operational rules, and reference access to the Healthcare Stabilization Fund; details such as effective dates or fiscal impacts were not specified in the meeting record.