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Bill included with suite of other healthcare changes
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Rep. Patty Lewis, D-Kansas City, filed four bills Tuesday aimed at improving the health and mental health of Missourians, starting with a bill to remove burdensome regulations from nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
When Gov. Mike Parson issued an emergency order in 2020 to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, it waived many provisions for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, including a requirement for nurse practitioners to practice within 75 miles of their collaborating physician. Now that the emergency order has lapsed, so have these waivers.
Lewis’ House Bill 2383 would permanently re-instate those waivers to remove regulations on Missouri healthcare professionals and increase access to healthcare for all Missourians.
“Changes to the scope-of-work policy for nurse practitioners have not changed in almost 30 years, and the pandemic illustrated just how outdated and antiquated these regulations are on nurse practitioners and physician assistants,” Lewis said. “By permanently adopting these waivers into law, Missouri goes that much further to modernizing its healthcare system.”
Lewis also filed three other pieces of legislation pertaining to healthcare. House Bill 2384 exempts diapers from sales tax, and House Bill 2385 requires health benefit plans to provide coverage for the treatment of obesity.
House Bill 2386 revises a section of statute pertaining to expedited partner therapy, use to quickly treat sex partners of people diagnosed with certain sexually transmitted diseases. Lewis’ bill would include trichomoniasis in the STDs included in expedited partner therapy.
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