This Act is a substitute for House Bill No. 322 which permits employees of, or security personnel working for, a health-care institution, as defined under Chapter 25C of Title 16, or a medical or dental practice licensed under Title 24, for the purpose of summoning a law-enforcement officer, take any person presenting a security or safety risk at such premises into custody and detain the person in a reasonable manner on the premises for a reasonable time. This House Substitute to House Bill No. 322 differs from the initial bill as it clarifies the definition of health-care institution, medical practice, and dental practice.
This Act is a substitute for HB 200 and differs from HB 200 by requiring health insurance coverage only for pre-exposure prophylaxis (“PrEP”) medication and post-exposure prophylaxis (“PEP”) medication. This Act also makes technical corrections including updating section numbers and updating the applicability date so insurance companies can file rates that include the cost of the coverage required under this Act. This Act requires individual health insurance plans, group and blanket health insurance plans, the state employee health plan, and state Medicaid insurance to cover medically necessary PrEP medication for the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (“HIV”) infection before possible HIV exposure and medically necessary PEP medication for the prevention of HIV infection after possible HIV exposure. The coverage must include must be provided without any of the following: 1. Cost-sharing requirements, including deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and out-of-pocket expenses. 2. Prior authorization or step therapy requirements. 3. Unreasonable delay in coverage determination. This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates that are renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027.
This Act requires that a hospital create a discharge plan if a pregnant patient who is experiencing signs or symptoms consistent with labor is discharged before delivery. This requirement to create a discharge plan applies to patients discharged from either in-patient treatment or observation status and must contain all of the following: 1. Aftercare instructions and guidelines and that these instructions and guidelines were explained to the patient, patient’s agent, or patient’s lay caregiver. 2. An assessment of travel distance and time between the primary residence of the patient and the hospital. 3. Verification of reliable transportation between the primary residence of the patient and the hospital. 4. Identification of a back-up hospital or facility at which the patient may obtain labor and delivery services. This Act is modeled on the Women Expansion of Learning and Labor Safety or WELLS Act, H.R. 7830, which was introduced in Congress on March 5, 2026. The WELLS Act is named after Mercedes Wells, a Black woman who was forced to give birth on the side of the road minutes after being discharged from a hospital while in active labor. Under existing law, Chapter 30J of Title 16 provides discharge planning requirements when a patient is being discharged home after admission to a hospital. The requirements under this Act are in addition to, but can be combined with, these existing discharge planning requirements if the patient being discharged is pregnant and experiencing signs or symptoms consistent with labor. This Act also renames and reorganizes Chapter 30J of Title 16 by making existing law Subchapter I and creating a new Subchapter II with the requirements under this Act. As such, this Act makes corresponding changes to existing law to change references to Chapter 30J to the new subchapter.
This Act strengthens procedural protections for pharmacies, pharmacists, and consumers related to regulation of a pharmacy benefits manager by doing all of the following: Adds definitions for the terms “chronic or long-term condition”, “net amount”, “purchaser”, “recoupment”, “similarly situated contracted pharmacy”, and “wholesale invoice audit.” Applies audit notice requirements uniformly and ensures access to an appropriate point of contact. Requires a pharmacy benefits manager to provide a list of records that the auditing entity seeks to audit at least 5 business days before an audit. Limits activities to once every 12 months and sets standards for wholesale invoice audits. Ensures audit costs are borne solely by the pharmacy benefits manager. Clarifies that a pharmacy can appeal the amount of any reimbursement and that a contracted pharmacy’s representative can take actions and receive notices related to appeals on behalf of a pharmacy. Extends pharmacies’ ability to appeal from 10 days to 40 days to account for entities that complete retroactive billing. When an appeal is denied, requires the parties to provide a detailed reason for the denial and specific information about how the pharmacy can appeal the denial to the Department of Insurance. Prohibits retaliation by a pharmacy benefits manager when a pharmacist or pharmacy discloses information to a government agency or during a proceeding if the person who disclosed the information had reasonable cause to believe that the disclosed information is evidence of a violation of a state or federal law. Requires that a pharmacy benefits manager must provide at least 60 days’ notice before amending a contract with a pharmacy or pharmacist. Clarifies that the prohibition against spread pricing applies to all purchasers contracting with pharmacy benefits managers. Changes the reporting requirements for rebates so that pharmacy benefits managers must file the required reports annually instead of quarterly. This change will reduce the amount of incorrect or unclear reporting because rebates are aggregated and reported at the end of the period of time under each contract. Amends national drug acquisition cost compliance to refer to the date of service. Prohibits pharmacy benefit managers from unit-of-use requirements inconsistent with smallest package size availability and manufacturer recommendations. Requires that pharmacy benefit managers may not require pharmacies to dispense therapeutically equivalent or alternative drugs that cost the enrollee more out of pocket than the prescribed drug except for medical reasons. Ensures that enrollee-identifiable or prescriber-identifiable information is not transferred to or shared with affiliated pharmacies for any commercial purpose other than those defined. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
The Health Care Professional Access Act requires carriers to participate in uniform processes with specific timetables to create speed-to-market for health care professionals. Currently, health care professionals may be employed for 6 months or more with no ability to collect insurer reimbursement due to lengthy carrier credentialing process. Ensuring uniformity across carriers, as well as relevant procedural standards, will help attract and retain health care professionals in our state, enable movement between practices and the creation of new ones, and ensure nondiscrimination in credentialing decisions. Under this Act, credentialing processes are limited to 45 days. This Act additionally provides for provisional credentialing, whereby reimbursement ability is provided even more quickly for certain health care professionals, including FQHCs, and in designated shortage areas which currently include mental health professionals statewide and primary and dental care in Kent and Sussex Counties, or is offered if timelines are not met. Oversight of compliance with this Act falls to the applicable regulatory agency. The Act also ensures specific processes and health care professional rights during a carrier’s intent to terminate a credential. More than 30 states have credentialing standards in law, with additional jurisdictions considering relevant legislation. Components of this legislation are derived from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Health Care Professional Credentialing Verification Model Act. This substitute differs from the original in that it does the following: - Clarifies that it applies to those carriers that require credentialing and does not require carriers to create a credentialing process if they do not already do so; - Clarifies the process for credentialing of health care professionals whose primary or home state is not Delaware and prefer to use the credentialing process in their primary or home state; - Allows a carrier to require earlier recredentialing to address activity that could disqualify a health care professional from credentialing; - Allows for certain electronic delivery of recredentialing notices; - Simplifies the language for the basis to deny, suspend, nonrenew, or terminate a health care professional’s to align with NCQA standards; - Clarifies that the penalties and remedies in this Act are in addition to those already otherwise available; and - Makes technical changes to information about CAQH.
This House Concurrent Resolution requests the Department of Labor to evaluate the feasibility of apprenticeship programs for school-based mental health professionals and submit a report to certain members of the General Assembly, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Controller General by November 1, 2026.
This Act revises Delaware law governing behavioral health treatment provider organizations by establishing a comprehensive statutory framework governing licensing, oversight, enforcement, client rights, provider duties, incident reporting, and investigations relating to behavioral health treatment services. The Act consolidates and modernizes statutory provisions governing behavioral health treatment oversight and clarifies the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health's authority to license programs, investigate incidents, and enforce compliance with this chapter. This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 161 by doing all of the following: (1) Expands the definition of the protection and advocacy system to reference all applicable federal protection and advocacy statutes. (2) Revises the client rights provisions by reorganizing and clarifying the rights framework, adding rights related to discharge planning and continuing care, clarifying the standard for permissible limitations on client rights, including a requirement that any limitation be for the shortest duration feasible, and revising the standard governing the use of restrictive intervention to align with existing Delaware law. (3) Expands standing to enforce client rights to include clients and their authorized representatives in addition to the Attorney General and the protection and advocacy system. (4) Adds a savings clause clarifying that nothing in this Act abrogates the rights and requirements applicable to long-term care facilities under Chapter 11 of Title 16. (5) Adds elopement to the definition of incident for purposes of the incident reporting requirements. (6) Modifies the provisions relating to the protection and advocacy system by expanding the system's access authority to reference all applicable federal and State law, adding a requirement that the Division notify the protection and advocacy system no more than 72 hours after receiving a report of a client death, authorizing staff to make discretionary reports to the protection and advocacy system, and extending anti-retaliation protections to staff who report to or cooperate with the protection and advocacy system. (7) Adds a framework for the confidentiality of incident reports and investigation records while authorizing the Division to publish aggregate, de-identified information regarding incidents and trends across the behavioral health system. (8) Adds an injunctive relief pathway allowing the Department to seek a temporary restraining order in the Court of Chancery when a provider organization's activities create an imminent risk of substantial harm to clients. (9) Updates language throughout to reflect current person-centered terminology consistent with the preferences of the disability community. (10) Makes technical and conforming changes for clarity and consistency. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to create a new crime within the jurisdiction of any inferior court of this State.
This Act authorizes physician assistants, occupational therapists, and nurse practitioners to practice dry needling. This Act sets forth requirements and limitations pertaining to the practice of dry needling. Dry needling may not be performed without a physician referral, and physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and occupational therapists may not hold themselves out as acupuncturists unless they are licensed acupuncturists.
This Act requires that effective amounts of folic acid be added to corn masa flour and corn masa which are staples in many minority diets. Under this Act, corn masa flour sold or used in the State must contain folic acid at a level of .7 mg of folic acid per pound of corn masa flour. Wet corn masa product must contain .4 mg of folic acid per pound of end product. These products must include a declaration of folic acid on the nutrition label in accordance with applicable federal law. Minority communities in the United States face a greater risk of neural tube defects (NTDs), which are serious birth defects that occur during early pregnancy. NTDs include spina bifida, characterized by an opening along the spine that can cause mild to severe nerve damage and disability, and anencephaly, a fatal condition where parts of the brain or skull are missing in newborns. Research has shown that daily intake of folic acid can reduce the risk of NTDs by over half. In response, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated folic acid fortification in enriched cereal grain products in 1998, resulting in a 35% reduction in NTD cases. However, this policy did not include corn masa flour, a staple in many minority diets.
This Act amends Title 16 to establish statewide standards for levels of neonatal care for facilities that operate neonatal nurseries or neonatal intensive care units. The Act requires facilities to comply with nationally recognized standards for levels of neonatal care established by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), ensuring that newborns receive care in facilities equipped to meet the complexity of their medical needs. Under the Act, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) will designate each facility's level of neonatal care based on compliance with the AAP standards, including staffing, equipment, facility capabilities, and patient protocols. The Act further establishes additional requirements for facilities providing Level IV NICU services which care for the most critically ill and medically complex newborns. DHSS must adopt implementing rules by January 30, 2027, and will seek input from the Delaware Perinatal Quality Collaborative and existing NICU providers in developing these rules.
