Connecticut 2021 2021 Regular Session

Connecticut Senate Bill SB01051 Comm Sub / Bill

Filed 04/08/2021

                     
 
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General Assembly  Substitute Bill No. 1051  
January Session, 2021 
 
 
 
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO STUD Y MEDICAL 
PRACTICE OWNERSHIP M ODELS.  
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General 
Assembly convened: 
 
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) There is established a task force 1 
to study the corporate practice of medicine doctrine, health carrier 2 
ownership of medical practices located in this state and medical practice 3 
ownership models that ensure the integrity of medical judgments, 4 
optimize patient outcomes and minimize corporate influence and 5 
interests. Such study shall include, but need not be limited to: 6 
(1) An examination of: 7 
(A) The extent to which health carriers have acquired, and are 8 
acquiring, medical practices in this state; 9 
(B) The medical practice ownership models emerging in this state; 10 
(C) The effects that health carrier ownership of medical practices has 11 
in this state, including, but not limited to, any effect on: 12 
(i) Patient health outcomes; 13 
(ii) Health care costs; 14 
(iii) Provider network size; 15  Substitute Bill No. 1051 
 
 
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(iv) Timely access to health care; 16 
(v) Health care quality; 17 
(vi) Patient outcome monitoring; 18 
(vii) Health care providers; 19 
(viii) Potential conflicts of interest in health care decision-making; 20 
(ix) Administrative processes, efficiency and the benefits and costs 21 
associated with such effect; or 22 
(x) Health care provider reporting requirements; and 23 
(D) The effects that health carrier ownership of medical practices has 24 
in this state in comparison to the effects that other medical practice 25 
ownership models have in this state, including, but not limited to, a 26 
comparison of effects on: 27 
(i) Patient health outcomes; 28 
(ii) Costs; 29 
(iii) Pricing; 30 
(iv) Efficiency; and 31 
(v) Quality of care; 32 
(2) A benchmarking exercise to compare the effects of health carrier 33 
ownership of medical practices to the effects of other medical practice 34 
ownership models in this state, other states and across states for the 35 
purpose of gathering as much data and information as possible to make 36 
an evidence-based comparison; and 37 
(3) Methods available to address the adverse impacts of certain 38 
medical practice ownership models, including, but not limited to, 39 
codifying the corporate practice of medicine doctrine in this state. 40  Substitute Bill No. 1051 
 
 
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(b) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, the task force 41 
shall consist of the following members: 42 
(1) Two appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 43 
one of whom is a physician practicing in a privately-owned medical 44 
practice and one of whom is a physician practicing in a health carrier-45 
owned medical practice;  46 
(2) Two appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one of 47 
whom is a physician practicing in a federally qualified health center and 48 
one of whom is a physician practicing in a hospital-owned or affiliated 49 
medical practice; 50 
(3) Two appointed by the majority leader of the House of 51 
Representatives, one of whom has expertise in health economics, 52 
insurance or pricing and one of whom has expertise analyzing health 53 
care provider metrics for a health carrier; 54 
(4) Two appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, one of whom 55 
has expertise in public health policy and one of whom has expertise 56 
analyzing health care provider metrics for a health care provider; 57 
(5) Two appointed by the minority leader of the House of 58 
Representatives, one of whom has a background in patient advocacy 59 
and one of whom is an attorney who has experience practicing antitrust 60 
law; 61 
(6) Two appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, one of whom 62 
has a background in health equity advocacy and one of whom has 63 
expertise in medical ethics; 64 
(7) The Comptroller, or the Comptroller's designee; 65 
(8) The Insurance Commissioner, or the commissioner's designee; 66 
(9) The Healthcare Advocate, or the Healthcare Advocate's designee; 67 
and 68  Substitute Bill No. 1051 
 
 
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(10) The executive director of the Office of Health Strategy, or the 69 
executive director's designee. 70 
(c) Any member of the task force appointed under subdivision (1), 71 
(2), (3), (4), (5) or (6) of subsection (b) of this section may be a member 72 
of the General Assembly. 73 
(d) All initial appointments to the task force shall be made not later 74 
than thirty days after the effective date of this section. If an appointing 75 
authority fails to make an initial appointment under subdivision (1), (2), 76 
(3), (4), (5) or (6) of subsection (b) of this section before the expiration of 77 
such period, the chairs of the joint standing committee of the General 78 
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to insurance shall 79 
jointly make such initial appointment and the member appointed by the 80 
chairs shall serve until the appointing authority appoints a member to 81 
replace the member initially appointed by the chairs. Any member 82 
appointed by the chairs pursuant to this subsection may be a member of 83 
the General Assembly. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, 84 
any vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority. 85 
(e) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro 86 
tempore of the Senate shall select the chairpersons of the task force from 87 
among the members of the task force. Such chairpersons shall schedule 88 
the first meeting of the task force, which shall be held not later than sixty 89 
days after the effective date of this section. 90 
(f) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 91 
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to insurance 92 
shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 93 
(g) Not later than January 1, 2022, the task force shall submit a report 94 
on its findings and recommendations to the joint standing committees 95 
of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to 96 
human services, insurance and public health in accordance with the 97 
provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes. The task force shall 98 
terminate on the date that it submits such report or January 1, 2022, 99  Substitute Bill No. 1051 
 
 
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whichever is later. 100 
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following 
sections: 
 
Section 1 from passage New section 
 
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:   
In Subsec. (a)(1)(C)(ix), "or" was added for consistency, and in Subsec. 
(a)(2), "in comparison" was deleted for clarity. 
 
INS Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO