Senate amends bill expanding consumer and provider protections for legally protected health care services

The Vermont Senate on March 12 amended and advanced S.28, a bill the committee described as strengthening consumer protections for patients and providers of legally protected health care services, including reproductive and gender-affirming care.

Senator from Chittenden, the reporter for the Committee on Health and Welfare, said S.28 expands the chapter previously focused on pregnancy services centers to cover all "health care services" for the purposes of the Vermont Consumer Protection Act and tightens definitions of unprofessional conduct for professions regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation and the Board of Medical Practice.

Among the provisions the reporter described are: adding confidentiality protections for applicants and licensees by exempting certain contact details from public inspection; expanding the definition of unlawful or deceptive advertising for health care services; allowing adaptive questionnaires during telemedicine encounters for prescriptions of medications to terminate a pregnancy (consistent with Federation of State Medical Boards guidance); permitting pharmacists, upon request, to omit a prescriber's name on prescriptions for medications for legally protected care and instead list the facility; and technical changes to fetal death reporting and retention periods for statistical purposes.

The reporter said the committee heard from a range of witnesses, including the bill's sponsor, the Vermont Medical Society, Planned Parenthood, the Office of Professional Regulation, and other medical and consumer advocates. The committee reported the bill favorably (vote 4–1–0).

On the floor, a senator raised constitutional concerns about one provision added to the unfair and deceptive acts section; the Senator from Orleans said that portion "is unconstitutional under the First Amendment" as drafted and flagged potential legal challenges. The reporter and other senators said the changes are intended to protect patients from misleading advertising and to clarify what constitutes unprofessional conduct.

The Senate adopted the committee's recommended amendments and ordered the bill to third reading.

If enacted, the bill would require regulatory and administrative implementation by the Office of Professional Regulation, the Board of Medical Practice, and pharmacies to carry out confidentiality provisions and to apply the revised unprofessional-conduct standards.