Here is a list of legislation that I worked on this past year that has become law. I am continuing to work on a variety of other issues for next session:
Destination Medical Center (DMC) – a bill that provides $585M in infrastructure support for Rochester, Minnesota to complement the $3B investment promised by Mayo Clinic and $2B additional private investment predicated to occur along side it! The final bill provides more transparency and city approval for all projects involving state and local tax dollars. The DMCC committee oversight board includes both local and statewide perspectives and limits Mayo Clinic membership.
Autism Insurance Mandate – at long last strides were made in requiring insurance companies to provide appropriate early intervention therapy recommended by physicians to children diagnosed with Autism. The state plans will be required to begin the offering again in 2016 and more immediately the mandate will apply to the large employee market. The small employee market and exchange products are to be studied for implementation by 2016. Additionally, I worked with Legal Aid and the Dept. of Health and Human Services to improve early childhood autism services in the MA FFS and PMAP areas.
“Denny’s Bill”/Non-Partisan Election Law Changes – this bill was written in response to the vacancy created by the death of our City Council President and the inability in law for us to be able to address adding candidates run for the vacancy despite many months until election. I worked with the Secretary of States office to find an appropriate way to fix this issue and it passed with bipartisan support.
Job Support Pilot for Workers w/Aspergers – this is an Olmsted County Pilot Program to help persons with Aspergers get and maintain employment. The pilot will be handled via Olmsted County, DEED and SEMCIL.
STEM Internships and Rural MN/MNSCU Internships – I carried two bills that provide funding for college student internships in the area of STEM education as well as support business/college collaborations for rural Minnesota student internship opportunities. These types of programs, along with apprenticeships, are ways to prepare our future workforce.
Disabled Dental and Increased Dental Reimbursement for MA Providers – Improved dental care and treatment for our disabled population and improved payment rates for dentists seeing our MA population both passed this year. While a step in the right direction, the rate increase will not nearly be enough to encourage more Dentists to see MA patients due to the loss of revenue impact for doing so.
Radiation Oncology Moratorium – This bill addressed the medical arms race occurring in the area of cancer radiation treatment through a long term moratorium based on a study done this past year. Prior to 2003, for profit, doctor owned and referred clinics began popping up to compete with our states hospitals – potentially skimming the private pay and insured clients and leaving MA or uninsured clients to the poorly reimbursed and heavily regulated hospitals.
Newborn Hearing Screening Program Protections – This bill clarified in law that data collected from newborn screening testing is not “genetic data” to be discarded based on a recent judicial finding. We also extended the committee that overseas Deaf and Hard of Hearing populations for several more years.
Statewide Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) –While this was one of several bills filed to address the need to maintain and fund SHIP and didn’t get an individual hearing, it was preserved and funded through the Governor’s public health bill this year!
Somali Women’s Health and Granting Changes – The Department of Public Health has been directed to address the issues surrounding this specific population through their racial disparities funds this year. Changes were made in the grant process to allow smaller non-profits to be able to carry out the work with the Dept of Public Health oversight.
Quality Assurance – The Region 10 Quality Assurance programs was continued and some changes were made to enhance the services.
Child Protection Notification – In response to an issue in Rochester this past year, we clarified in law that a parent must be notified if a staff member has mistreated a student.
DD Waivered Service Payment Methodology Changes – I carried two bills on this subject. One was a Department of Human Services bill and the other was a Provider driven bill to address changes required by the federal government about how Minnesota administers DD Waivered Services (Adult Foster Care, Habilitation Day Treatment etc…) The two bills eventually were negotiated into one bill that did its best to address the federal requirement, the departments issues as well as the providers concerns. We will have to monitor the implementation as it rolls out over the next several years – I suspect modifications will be necessary.