News Briefs: Government Updates

This roundup includes the following brief government updates:

West Virginia soon will start experimenting with the delivery of heath care services through four different patient-centered medical home models called for under legislation signed by Gov. Joe Manchin III, on May 31.

S.B. 414 authorizes the study of four medical home models:

The new law defines a medical home as a "health care setting that facilitates partnerships between individual patients and their personal physicians and, when appropriate, the patients' families and communities."

The new law also creates the Governor's Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning, which is responsible for organizing and implementing medical home projects, according to Greg Martin, manager of state government relations for the AAFP.

The West Virginia AFP actively engaged the state legislature on the medical home measure, playing a key role in shaping the legislation and pushing it forward, said Martin.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed a bill that creates a "safe harbor" from antitrust litigation for health care providers, public payers and private insurers so they can "identify appropriate reimbursement methods to align incentives in support of primary care medical homes."

The new law, S.B. 5891, (4-page PDF; About PDFs) exempts primary care health professionals from state antitrust laws and invokes the state's action doctrine in an attempt to block federal antitrust action.

The Washington AFP was a strong proponent of the bill, and worked collaboratively with the state's primary care coalition to rally support for the measure in the legislature. With the new law, it should be easier for family physicians and other primary care clinicians to work with payers to explore new ways to pay for health care services, according to the AAFP's State Legislative Issues Department.

The law stipulates, however, that the legislature does not authorize any person or entity to engage in activities that would constitute violations of state and federal antitrust laws, such as price-fixing among competing health care providers or carriers.