CS for CS for SB 1354 - Health Care Summary

• Requires hospitals to employ or contract with at least 50% certified surgical assistants and 50% certified surgical technologists, with exceptions for military-trained personnel, existing employees, and students in accredited programs.

• Establishes standardized prior authorization forms (maximum 2 pages) effective January 1, 2015, for Medicaid managed care plans, health insurers, and health maintenance organizations, with automatic approval after 3 business days unless denied.

• Creates process for healthcare providers to request overrides of step-therapy or fail-first medication protocols within 72 hours if preferred treatment is ineffective or likely to cause harm, applicable to managed care plans and insurers.

• Authorizes pharmacists to administer meningococcal and shingles vaccines under physician protocol and requires health insurers to post preferred provider lists on websites with 24-hour update capability.

• Caps trauma center activation fees at $15,000 (expires July 1, 2015), requires Department of Health to convene Trauma System Plan Advisory Council by October 1, 2014, and imposes temporary prohibition on new trauma center designations through July 1, 2015.

• Requires Department of Children and Families to establish crisis stabilization services utilization database with daily/monthly/annual data reporting from public receiving facilities to managing entities by August 1, 2014.