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IN SB0166
Bill
Status
1/3/2019
Primary Sponsor
Timothy Lanane
Click for details
AI Summary
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State employee health plans, Medicaid, accident and sickness insurance policies, and HMO contracts must cover Lyme disease and related tick-borne disease testing and treatment prescribed by a health care provider, including long-term antibiotic treatments classified as unproven, experimental, or investigational.
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Health care providers (physicians, physician assistants, advanced practice nurses) cannot be disciplined solely for prescribing, administering, or dispensing long-term antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease or tick-borne diseases, provided they document diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring in the patient's medical record.
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Providers ordering Lyme disease laboratory tests must give patients written information explaining that tests can produce false negatives/positives, early testing may miss antibodies, multiple tests may be needed, and negative results do not necessarily rule out the disease.
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Covered tick-borne diseases include anaplasmosis, babesiosis, bartonella, ehrlichiosis, spotted fever (including Rocky Mountain spotted fever), and any other CDC-recognized tick-borne disease, plus complications from these conditions.
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Effective July 1, 2019, applying to plans issued, entered into, delivered, amended, or renewed after June 30, 2019.
Legislative Description
Treatment of Lyme disease. Requires that, if an individual is diagnosed with Lyme disease or a related tick borne disease, state employee health plans, Medicaid, policies of accident and sickness insurance, and health maintenance organization contracts must provide coverage for Lyme disease or a related tick borne disease testing and treatment that is prescribed by a health care provider. Provides that a health care provider may not be subject to discipline solely because the health care provider prescribed, administered, or dispensed a long term antibiotic treatment for the treatment of Lyme disease or a tick borne disease. Requires a health care provider or health care provider's designee who orders a laboratory test for the presence of Lyme disease to provide the patient or the patient's legal representative with certain written information concerning Lyme disease.
Last Action
Senator Stoops added as coauthor
1/31/2019