2019 Legislative Update: Committee Meetings – Week 3

???????? 2019 Legislative Season Heats Up ????????

With the third of six legislative committee weeks in the books, battle lines have already formed for the 2019 Legislative Session.

It has become painfully obvious that the House of Representatives will propose several Scope of Practice Expansion bills, such as Independent Practice for APRNs and PAs, Pharmacist Diagnosis and Prescribing Authority, and Psychologist Prescribing, while the Florida Senate has thus far indicated that it will resist such legislation.

Conversely, initiatives such as the elimination of Redundant Step Therapy and the Recognition of Prior Authorizations are likely to advance in the Senate but face a far more hostile reception in the House of Representatives.

Legislators in both chambers, however, have indicated that changes to the 2018 Opioid Law are unlikely.

What does remain to be seen is the inevitable “Wild Card” issue that nobody yet sees, but which will come out of nowhere to dominate the news cycle.

With a new Governor and scores of new legislators, ideas are percolating on all fronts, and February is destined to be a better harbinger of things to come.