Research Health Care Legislation That Is Being Considered In Your State NUR 513
Research Health Care Legislation That Is Being Considered In Your State NUR 513
Research health care legislation that is being considered in your state. What impact might this legislation have on your future practice? What impact does it have on the collective practice of nurses in your state? How do you envision yourself potentially becoming involved in political advocacy for the profession in your future practice?
House Bill 1013 is a mental health bill that unanimously passed both of Georgia’s legislative chambers with bipartisan support in March of 2022. The new law gives more authority to medical providers and less control to insurance companies to determine what mental health services should be covered. Because of this newly assigned jurisdiction, the law received pushback from health insurers and lawmakers from the far right. Parts of the bill that unified lawmakers from both parties were provisions to improve and strengthen treatment for individuals suffering with substance abuse and mental health disorders. The law also dictates that a certain percentage of taxpayers’ money goes to fund programs that have direct patient care and not to cover administrative costs alone. The law mandates that teams of local law enforcement officers and behavioral health experts respond to calls placed for citizens experiencing mental health crisis. Of the 50 states, Georgia is currently 48th regarding its citizens ability to acquire mental healthcare. Hopefully, the new law will improve Georgia’s ranking and the quality-of-care available throughout the state. (Nolin, 2022)
I feel that this new law will positively impact the collective practice of nurses in Georgia because this law places the importance of mental healthcare on par with physical healthcare. Hopefully, the nurses in the respective areas can provide patients who need psychiatric support services with the care they need, and free up time, space, and resources for nurses to care for people who need physical health services as well.
Reference:
Nolin, J. (2022, March 30). Georgia lawmakers unanimously pass bill to overhaul mental health services. Georgia recorder. https://georgiarecorder.com/2022/03/30/georgia-lawmakers-unanimously-pass-bill-to-overhaul-mental-health-services/
I agree with you that House Bill 1013 is a mental health bill that was passed both of Georgia’s legislative chambers with bipartisan support in March of 2022. The law deprive insurers their authority while giving medical providers more powers to determine mental health services to be covered. The law assumes that medical professionals are the best people to advice on treatment and management of mental health complications (Yang et al., 2021). Insurance companies may prioritize economic and other interests away from patients’ recovery. As a result, the House Bill 1013 allows medical providers to be in control of mental health insurance. However, the law received pushback from health insurers and lawmakers from the far right (Stucky et al., 2021). The law dictates that a certain percentage of taxpayers’ money goes to fund programs that have direct patient care and not to cover administrative costs alone. Unfortunately, some insurance companies have suffered from frustrations from other medical providers due to poor relationship.
References
Stucky, C. H., Brown, W. J., & Stucky, M. G. (2021, January). COVID 19: An unprecedented opportunity for nurse practitioners to reform healthcare and advocate for permanent full practice authority. In Nursing Forum (Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 222-227). https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12515
Yang, B. K., Johantgen, M. E., Trinkoff, A. M., Idzik, S. R., Wince, J., & Tomlinson, C. (2021). State nurse practitioner practice regulations and US health care delivery outcomes: a systematic review. Medical Care Research and Review, 78(3), 183-196.
