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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1191
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 3608
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduced by:
(PH)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A PANCREATIC CANCER SCREENING AND
TREATMENT REFERRAL PROGRAM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Pancreatic cancer screening and referral services" means 2
necessary pancreatic cancer screening services and referral services for 3
a procedure intended to treat cancer of the human pancreas, including, 4
but not limited to, surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and related 5
medical follow-up services. 6
(2) "Unserved or underserved populations" means patients who are: 7
(A) At or below two hundred fifty per cent of the federal poverty level 8
for individuals; (B) without health coverage for pancreatic cancer 9
screening services; and (C) of an age at which pancreatic cancer 10
screening services are deemed appropriate by medical professionals. 11
(b) Not later than January 1, 2026, the Commissioner of Public Health 12
shall establish, within available appropriations, a pancreatic cancer 13
screening and treatment referral program within the Department of 14 Raised Bill No. 1191
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Public Health, to (1) promote screening, detection and treatment of 15
pancreatic cancer among unserved or underserved populations, while 16
giving priority consideration to patients in minority communities, (2) 17
educate the public regarding pancreatic cancer and the benefits of early 18
detection, and (3) provide counseling and referral services for treatment. 19
(c) The program shall include, but need not be limited to: 20
(1) The establishment of a public education and outreach initiative to 21
publicize (A) pancreatic cancer screening services and the extent of 22
health coverage that may be available for such services; (B) the benefits 23
of early detection of pancreatic cancer and the recommended frequency 24
of screening services, including clinical examinations; and (C) the 25
medical assistance program and any other public or private program 26
that patients may use to access such services; 27
(2) The provision of pancreatic screening and treatment referral 28
services by providers of such services who register with the Department 29
of Public Health; 30
(3) The development of professional education programs, including, 31
but not limited to, education concerning the benefits of early detection 32
of pancreatic cancer and the recommended frequency of such pancreatic 33
cancer screenings; 34
(4) The establishment of a system to track and follow up on all 35
patients participating in the program who were screened for pancreatic 36
cancer, which system shall include, but need not be limited to, follow-37
up of abnormal screening tests and referral to treatment services when 38
needed and tracking such patients to be screened at recommended 39
screening intervals; and 40
(5) A method of determining whether each participating provider of 41
pancreatic cancer screening services is in compliance with federal and 42
state quality assurance requirements. 43 Raised Bill No. 1191
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This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 New section
PH Joint Favorable