2011 Legislative Session Final Report

Reflections and an Overview of WMS Success
The 1957 movie “Three Faces of Eve” may be the most appropriate description of the 2011 General Session of the Wyoming Legislature. The session seemed to have at least three if not more distinct personalities.

The early part of the session was dominated by social issues where newly elected freshmen exercising their mandate to oppose anything connected with the federal government while trying to fight back against the Affordable Care Act.

Later the session turned to action on several bills aimed at improving education which involved long floor fights over teacher tenure and attempts to bring accountability to the educational process.

Third, legislators spent about a week working over the supplemental budget. The theme of “lower budgets and less government” held for a while but ultimately the legislature fell into its customary habit of adding to the budget, although it was somewhat more restrained in its spending compared to previous years. Finally, the social issues seemed to run their course, especially in the Senate with the defeat of several House Bills that could have significantly changed Wyoming. Lost among the emotional and highly reported bills were numerous issues dealing with the normal, if not mundane, operation of government and regulation of activities within the state. Four hundred forty seven total bills and resolutions were introduced with 116 gaining passage. The number of bills introduced was lower this year than in past General Sessions and was reflected in the fact the House was able to act on all bills except one that made it out of committee. Thirty nine of these bills were tracked by the WMS legislative team. Of the 14 bills actively supported by WMS, 10 passed and four failed. We monitored 18 bills and 10 of them passed and 8 were defeated. Success in a legislative session is often measured by what isn’t passed as much as by what is passed. WMS opposed seven bills and all were defeated. Thus of the 21 bills WMS was actively involved in, the legislature followed WMS’s positions 17 times

Summary of Important 2011 Bills The following list of bills surfaced as priority initiatives from the 39 that WMS closely monitored throughout the 2011 General Session.

Ultrasound Information Bill Lacks Support
House Bills 118 and 251 both dealt with information to be given a pregnant mother prior to her getting an abortion. Although separate bills, they dealt with the same issues. While always conveying that WMS took no position on abortions, it was important to oppose both these bills because they would set a precedent for government interference in the doctor-patient relationship and the informed consent to be given by doctors to their patients. Excellent testimony was provided by several WMS members. HB 118 was defeated on the House floor by a vote of 23-32 with five excused. HB 251 did pass the House, but was defeated on the Senate floor by a vote of 14-15 with one excused. Testimony on both of these bills was very extensive, and often emotional, but ultimate success can be traced to the excellent and non-biased testimony given by WMS members.

WWAMI Expands to 20 Students in 2011
A budget footnote presented to the legislature in the University of Wyoming’s supplemental budget request allowed for the program to expand student capacity to 20 students beginning with the incoming WWAMI class of 2011-2012. The Wyoming Medical Society is specifically named as a partner in the budget footnote and was very supportive of the program’s expansion efforts.

Wyoming Dieticians Achieve Licensure
Senate File 93, Dietetics licensure sets up a licensing board, testing requirements and provides for licensure of registered dieticians. The bill included a $20,000 general fund appropriation for start-up costs but the board will be self-funded in the future.

Truth in Advertising Legislation Meets Opposition
House Bill 201, Health care qualifications and advertising brought the defeat of an important WMS bill. It would have prohibited deceptive or misleading advertising by health care professionals and would have required professionals to state their qualifications and degrees so the public could better understand who they were dealing with. Discussions with legislators and others following defeat of the bill indicated support for the concept, but concerns for the way the bill was worded.

Efforts Defeated to Criminalize Enforcement of the ACA
House Bill 35, Health Care Choice and Protection Act was opposed by WMS. It passed the House but was defeated when the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee did not act on it. The bill sought to prevent enforcement of federal health care laws in Wyoming and could have put health care providers at risk of being charged with crimes for providing health care.

Wyoming Physicians Continue to Use most Current Edition
House Bill 232, Compensation impairment ratings dealt with physical impairment ratings for workers’ compensation hearings. Dr. Anne MacGuire of Casper was very instrumental in defeating the bill when she provided excellent testimony on the science of impairment ratings and outlined her experience in making such ratings.

Hospital Privileging for Nurse Practitioners
Senate File 98, Hospital privileges was passed out of committee but was defeated when the bill was not considered on the floor of the Senate. The bill was an attempt to give hospital admitting privileges to advance practice registered nurses on the theory it would make primary health care more accessible. Testimony from WMS members and others pointed out the vast difference in training, particularly in the acute care setting, between medical doctors and APRN’s. During the 2010 interim WMS staff had worked extensively with APRN’s and other interested parties to resolve the differences between the groups, but to no avail. It appears the sponsor of the legislation did not want to move the bill until everyone involved could come to some agreement.

Bill to Address Medicaid Provider Fraud Fails
Senate File 145, Medicaid fraud recovery, was introduced in an effort to reduce fraud within the provider community. It was patterned after federal legislation that uses “whistle blowers” in an attempt to ferret out fraud by providers. Testimony provided by WMS supported efforts to reduce fraud but pointed out many problems with the bill that could produce severe unintended consequences on health care providers. Testimony on the bill in the House Labor, Health and Social Services committee suggested a better approach would be to amend existing Wyoming fraud statutes and to include recipient fraud in any future legislation.

Joint Resolutions to Amend Wyoming’s Constitution
Senate Joint Resolutions 2 and 3 both addressed the issue of resisting the federal government’s efforts to impose health care reform on states. Portions of both resolutions were combined into a heavily amended version of SJ 2 which ultimately passed. The resolution will be presented to the voters in the 2012 general election for possible adoption as an amendment to the Wyoming constitution. The final version of the resolution is a far cry from the original of either of the resolutions. Most observers believe it does little except give the people of Wyoming an opportunity to express their feelings about federal health care reform.

2011 Interim Committee Topics
At the end of each legislative session the governing body of the legislature assigns interim studies for the standing committees to look at during the interim. Of particular interest to WMS members will be a study by the Joint Labor Health and Social Services Committee to look at cost containment for health care. No doubt this will include provider fees and fraud issues associated with Medicaid. The committee will also look at funding for critical access hospitals, implementation of physician licensure improvements by the Board of Medicine and the Wyoming Cancer Control Act.

WMS Thanks the 2011 Doctors of the Day
Wyoming Legislators and Capitol staff has come to depend on the presence of health care providers at the Capitol each day. Knowing that a health care professional is available to tend to health care needs is important to many people involved with the legislature each year and WMS is proud of the valuable service we are able to provide through the generosity of our members. Thank you for your dedication to Wyoming medicine and the sacrifices you make to be able to volunteer each year.

Kay Buchanan, MD
Pat Yost, MD
Tamara Cottam, MD
Michael Jording, MD
Dean Bartholomew, MD
Joseph McGinley, MD
Amy Trelease-Bell, MD
Paul Johnson, MD
Anureet Gill, MD
Scott Diering, MD
Rene Hinkle, MD
Eric Wedell, MD
Brendan Fitzsimmons, MD
Tom Radosevich, MD
Fred Baldwin, PA-C
David Gajda, MD
Doug Parks, MD
Maria Cornelius, MD
John Healey, MD
Ron Malm, DO
Lisa Brandes, MD
Gerry Smith, MD
Robert Monger, MD
Kim Broomfield, MD
Katherine Stine-Kraeft, MD
Gerrie Gardner, DO
Shannon Evans, DO
Robin Hallman, MD

Questions? Contact your lobbying team, Sheila Bush and Tom Jones, JD,
at the WMS office at 307-635-2424 or info@wyomed.org.