Committee moves to extend insurer decision timelines to physician assistants, advanced-practice nurses

The Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee advanced a bill that adds physician assistants and advanced-practice nurses to the same insurer decision and license-approval timelines now applied to physicians.

Committee members pressed sponsors for detail on whether the change fixes a known bottleneck or chiefly creates consistency. Ryan James of the Arkansas Insurance Department told the committee that the department did not sponsor the bill and that, "to my knowledge, I'm not exactly clear," but that the measure appears to add those classes to the list of people who could bill and, importantly, provides the timing protections (60-day insurer decision and 180-day approval) now available for physicians.

Supporters said the change aligns time limits across provider types and likely resolves isolated cases in which nonphysician providers waited longer than the statutory timeline. No members identified a specific systematic failure in the transcript; sponsors described the amendment as both a consistency measure and a remedy for occasional delays.

A motion to pass the item was made by Sen. Tee and seconded by Sen. Chesterfield; the committee approved by voice vote with no recorded opposition. The bill will proceed to the Senate floor for further consideration.