MedChi ready for another chock-full session

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Last week, the Maryland State Medical Society released an agenda packed with sure-to-sizzle (though largely familiar) issues it intends to bring up during the General Assembly’s 2014 session, which begins on Wednesday.

MedChi, which advocates for Maryland physicians as well as public health initiatives, will focus on many of the same topics that appeared last year, including fighting an increase in the cap on non-economic damages awarded in medical malpractice cases, restricting minors’ access to tanning beds and eliminating a practice known as “step therapy,” in which insurance companies require patients to try a series of alternative treatments before agreeing to pay for the more drastic, expensive treatment the doc ordered.

Liability issues, though often addressed, will likely receive more attention this year as the state moves aggressively forward with health care reform efforts that change the way care is delivered, where it’s delivered and by whom.

MedChi will also continue to lobby to preserve physicians’ ability to dispense medications directly to patients who were injured at work. Workers compensation insurers and others have raised questions about the practice, noting that it jacks up the price of the drugs compared to what they would cost at a pharmacy.

With the state’s expansion of Medicaid taking effect this year, MedChi also plans to press lawmakers for to provide incentives for physicians to participate and to continue the recently increased reimbursement rates for doctors who serve the Medicaid population.

As always, it’s going to get interesting, so stay tuned. (Meanwhile, get your poli-fix from TDR reporter Bryan Sears’ Eye on Annapolis blog.)