Lawmakers signed off on sweeping changes to the insurance industry, boosted support for maternal health, increased provider rates and did more during the recently concluded spring session. [Health News Illinois} 

Below is a roundup of some of the proposals that could have the biggest impact on healthcare in the Land of Lincoln.

BUDGET

Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law this week a roughly $53.1 billion spending plan that includes hundreds of millions of dollars in investments for healthcare initiatives.

That includes $10 million to support a program within the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to relieve medical debt for more than 300,000 Illinoisans.

The package includes $182 million pledged by Pritzker earlier this spring to provide healthcare and other services to asylum seekers in the Chicago region.

And it allocates $440 million to two programs that provide Medicaid-like coverage for some undocumented adults. An additional $100 million will be brought in from a federal emergency services match, as well as $50 million from drug rebate payments and $40 million from managed care organization taxes.

Visit Health News Illinois website for for more information. 

We share some of  news report on Maternal Health and Behavioral Health here.

Lawmakers voted to boost pay for a variety of providers through the Medicaid omnibus this year.

MATERNAL HEALTH

Lawmakers followed through on Pritzker’s priority to address maternal health.

Along with funding various initiatives in the budget plan, the General Assembly approved a plan that will task insurers with covering all pregnancy, postpartum and newborn care provided by perinatal doulas or licensed certified professional midwives. That includes home births and home visits.

Coverage would also expand to home visits by board-certified lactation consultants and recommended products like breast pumps and feeding aids.

Another bill passed this spring would create a task force to design recovery plans for substance-exposed infants. The plans would include medical treatment, recovery services and referrals to community resources for infants and caregivers.

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Lawmakers green-lit a bill that would clarify existing law requiring the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to identify leading indicators for when a child is at an elevated behavioral health crisis risk.

The bill would create a workgroup with HFS, Medicaid managed care organizations and other stakeholders to determine what data to use to determine lead indicators. The workgroup would have to make its recommendations for leading indicator data elements by September, with that information to be used to ensure managed care organizations provide services and interventions to help children.

The proposal also tasks the State Board of Education to work with sister agencies and stakeholders to develop a readiness assessment for universal mental health screening of students, including a framework to support districts in a phased approach. The report would be due this fall, with a plan for a phased approach to be ready by next April.

Legislators also passed a bill to create a task force to investigate and develop a plan to help ease administrative burdens on behavioral health providers.

Another approved plan would require any mental health, substance use disorder treatment or developmental disabilities facility to attempt to provide a verbal and written notice of death of a patient to the individual's personal representative, if known.

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