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Committee advances several health bills; sponsor pulls physician noncompete measure
Summary
The Senate Public Health committee cleared multiple technical and agency bills in a single hearing, approving a mix of cleanup and licensing changes while one sponsor withdrew a contentious noncompete exemption to gather more support.
The Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Monday processed multiple health-related bills in a mixed session of brief presentations and longer debate.
Quick outcomes: the committee approved an agency-cleanup bill to dissolve a commission overseeing an umbilical-cord program and transfer responsibilities to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; advanced technical updates to the Health Care Decisions Act meant to address banking privacy concerns; approved an amendment to the Arkansas Medicaid Drug Utilization Review Board composition; and approved a clarifying change to the definition of "primary instructor" for certain long-term-care nursing training. Senator Justin Boyd withdrew Senate Bill 139, which would have created a physician-specific exemption to noncompete restrictions, citing insufficient votes.
Below are the committee’s recorded actions and short descriptions of each…
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