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Committee advances streamlined licensing bill after debate over federal incorporation by reference
Summary
Senate Bill 1015, a measure to streamline state licensing by relying in part on federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) standards, was sent to the floor with a do-pass recommendation after committee debate about incorporating federal definitions by reference.
The House Health and Welfare Committee sent Senate Bill 1015 to the House floor with a do-pass recommendation after extended discussion over whether the bill’s incorporation by reference of federal definitions could create unintended consequences.
Representative Josh Wheeler, District 35, presented SB 1015 as a “streamlined Licensing and Inspection Act” intended to remove duplicative state licensing requirements for hospitals and medical providers that are already regulated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Wheeler said the bill would accept CMS qualifications as evidence that a provider is licensed in Idaho, eliminating redundant state rules and reducing administrative burden; he also said the change would remove roughly 123 pages of state agency rules that are duplicative of CMS requirements.
Public testimony included Brandon Durst (testifying on his own behalf) who opposed the bill because it replaces the state definition of “hospital” with the definition in the Social Security Act (section 1861, as discussed in testimony) and by reference to federal regulations. Durst said that incorporating the federal definition “opens ourselves up” to changes at the federal level and cited concerns about past uses of federal definitions in litigation and regulatory contexts. Durst urged sending the bill to the amending order so the committee could retain Idaho’s existing statutory definition.
Robert Vandermurray (identified in the transcript as representing the Idaho Health Care Association) testified in favor of moving rules into statute, saying that federal certification efforts effectively require providers to meet federal definitions and that most Idaho facilities will continue to seek Medicare certification.
Laura Studi, administrator for the Division of Licensing and Certification at the Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee that the CFR definition originally matched the state definition and that the federal definition has evolved; she said deferring to the federal definition allows the state to license and certify evolving hospital types and avoid gaps in licensing as CMS’s definitions change.
Representative Lucas Kaler offered a substitute motion to send the bill to the amending order, citing the incorporation-by-reference concern; the committee voted on the substitute motion and on the original do-pass motion. The transcript records the substitute motion did not pass; the committee ultimately voted to send SB 1015 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation.
