ADVOCACY SPOTLIGHT


State Legislation Trends for 2017 Tax issues, workers’ compensation and Certificates of Need will be on the forefront BY ALI LEGROS


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efore we embark on the 2017 legislative session, let us recap the 2016 session. In 2016, more than 178,206 bills were filed across the country, and state lawmakers approved nearly 29,122 of them, making them 17 percent more productive than Congress. With that volume, the ASC industry saw several legislative issues arise. Many of those emerging issues are expected to be re-introduced in 2017.


Rewind to 2016


Louisiana, a state with a projected $1.1 billion budget shortfall, introduced sev- eral bills establishing a provider tax or fee on the ASC industry. The proposed legislation would have authorized the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to impose Medicaid provider fees on every class of health care pro- vider, facility and service provided for in federal Medicaid regulations. While neither bill passed, in the eyes of the ASC community, those bills and others like them set a dangerous precedent that other states can look to as a means of revenue and way to close budget holes. Workers’ compensation reform con- tinued to be an issue ASCs watched in 2016. During the 2016 legislative ses- sion in the Commonwealth of Virginia, HB 378, “Workers’ compensation: fee schedules for medical and legal ser- vices” passed the Virginia General Assembly unanimously. HB 378 did not set a state fee schedule but tasked the Virginia Worker’s Compensation Com- mission with creating six different fee schedules for the different socioeco- nomic regions in Virginia. The Com- mission also was tasked with conduct- ing studies of various states’ workers’ compensation fee schedules to see if they could be applied to the state of Vir- ginia. The Commission created a regu- latory advisory panel that will work to


Coming Down the Pipeline This Year All 50 state legislatures will meet in 2017. Some of the other issues from 2016 that ASCs are expecting to resurface this year include efforts to reform workers’


compensation


reimbursement systems, increased price transparency in health care, new taxes on health care providers or changes to state regulations. So, let us take a deeper dive into some of the states likely to be making news in 2017:


Louisiana: With a $1.1 billion defi-


Some of the other issues from 2016 that ASCs are expecting to resurface this year include efforts to reform workers’ compensation reimbursement systems, increased price transparency in health care, new taxes on health care providers or changes to state regulations.”


—Ali Legros, ASCA


ensure that the needs of Virginia work- ers’ compensation recipients are met. The legislation requires the panel to issue comments on the proposed fee schedule and resolve any issues that were overlooked in creating the regula- tions. The bill also requires the schedule to be implemented on January 1, 2018, which would add Virginia to the list of many other states that have already adopted the fee schedule system.


cit expected by the end of 2018, all tax issues are on the table. Expect to see a resurgence and resurrection of fees or taxes placed on health care providers to pay for Medicaid expansion. Illinois: Workers’ compensation continues to be a contentious issue with many business leaders and legal advocates pushing for more reform. Governor Bruce Rauner (R) contin- ues to highlight the need for workers’ compensation reform in


the state.


He and other legislative leaders have convened a working group to study the workers’ compensation system in Illinois. Expect to see a proposal or two come from that group as the 2017 session nears. Virginia: Certificate of Need (CON) bills are expected to reappear in 2017. More than 20 bills pertain- ing to CON were introduced in 2016. Many failed, so it is likely that they will return in some capacity in 2017. ASCA will continue to monitor


legislation in all 50 states. For more information, please contact Ali Legros at alegros@ascassociation.org.


Ali Legros is ASCA’s assistant director of government affairs, state affairs. Write her at alegros@ascassociation.org.


ASC FOCUS JANUARY 2017 23


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