Lawmakers hear bipartisan support for bill expanding nonpharmaceutical pain care
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Summary
Sponsors and health-care advocates told the committee that a bill to require insurers to establish pain-management programs would expand access to alternatives to opioids, while insurers and the insurance department said they will work with sponsors on prior-authorization language.
A long-running measure to expand access to nonpharmaceutical pain treatments was presented to the committee as a bipartisan, stakeholder-refined bill designed to increase coverage of modalities such as physical therapy and other alternatives to opioid prescriptions.
Sponsor and stakeholder framing: The prime sponsor (representative who introduced the bill) described a decades-long effort to broaden pain-care options and said the bill draws on models in Maine, Massachusetts and other states. Paula Rogers of AHIP (representing insurers) said carriers and the insurance department worked with stakeholders and agreed to refine prior-authorization language to avoid creating access barriers while preserving utilization oversight.
Clinician support: Tracy Adams, president of the New Hampshire chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association, testified that early physical therapy can prevent acute pain from becoming chronic and can reduce long-term opioid exposure, advocating for coverage of PT as part of the bill.
Next steps: Sponsors said they would provide amended language on prior authorization to the committee and work with the insurance department and plans to finalize technical issues. The hearing closed with no recorded committee vote during the session.
