Senator Irvin, chairing the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, moved to expunge the panel’s earlier recommendation regarding Empower Healthcare Solutions’ prior-authorization approach and then asked the committee to consider the company’s revised proposal. Mitch Morris, chief executive officer of Empower Healthcare Solutions, and Brad Donner, the company’s chief medical officer, told the committee they had revised the firm’s gold‑card transparency policy in response to questions raised at a previous committee hearing and highlighted services that will no longer be managed through prior authorization under Act 575 of 2023.

Morris said the company provided a detailed list of services removed from prior authorization after the law took effect and pointed members to the policy exhibit showing the changes. Donner described the narrower set of services that will continue to receive prior‑authorization review, naming waiver services, elective inpatient admissions, elective surgical procedures, psychiatric residential care, skilled nursing, inpatient rehabilitation, personal care services provided in the community or home, admissions to institutions of mental disease, immediate care facility admissions, and pharmacy/prescription drug services.

After brief clarification from Donner and acknowledgement from the chair that the revised policy improves transparency, Senator Irvin asked for a motion to expunge the committee’s previous recommendation on Empower’s earlier prioritization proposal and then sought a motion to recommend approval of the updated policy. Members moved, seconded and voted in favor of both motions; chair recorded “Ayes have it” and the committee approved the recommendation to support Empower Healthcare Solutions’ updated prior-authorization proposal.

The committee’s action is a recommendation to the relevant rulemaking or oversight body; committee members emphasized the goal of clearer rules of engagement and transparency in prior-authorization processes rather than immediate statutory change. Empower representatives said they would provide the committee with the revised policy exhibit and stand ready to answer follow-up technical questions.

The next procedural step is the committee’s recommendation being forwarded to the appropriate administrative or legislative follow-up process for record and any required implementation steps.