This resolution directs the Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Social Services, to study the creation of a Delaware Healthcare Apprenticeship Degree Program that would place aspiring healthcare professionals in paid clinical positions in healthcare facilities while they complete the training and schooling necessary to become credentialed healthcare professionals. The resolution requires that the study consider how any recommended program may be funded through Delaware’s federal Rural Health Transformation Program award and implemented through or in coordination with the competitive awards made by the Department of Health and Social Services under that program, so that the program complements, rather than duplicates, the State’s ongoing healthcare workforce initiatives. This resolution also directs the Department of Labor to consult with stakeholders to make recommendations for degreed apprenticeship programs beyond healthcare and requires the Department to submit a report of its findings to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Division of Legislative Services by May 1, 2027.
This Act clarifies that individual, group, and blanket health insurance carriers must provide for and pay for services (including immunizations) that were recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that were in effect as of January 1, 2025. They must also cover immunizations that were supported by national clinical guidelines or national standards of care in effect on January 1, 2025. To that end, this Act removes provisions that permit carriers to deny coverage for these items or services simply because they are not currently recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC and the comprehensive guidelines supported by the HRSA. This Act also removes obsolete United States Preventative Task Force provisions related to breast cancer screening from 2009.
This Act modernizes Delaware’s pharmacy practice laws by authorizing pharmacists to practice to the full extent of their education and training. Pharmacists have the expertise necessary to provide patient care beyond what current Delaware law allows, and enabling them to do so is an important step toward expanding access to health care in this State. Under this Act, pharmacists are permitted to independently evaluate patients, identify health conditions, order and prescribe laboratory tests, and prescribe drugs or devices without reliance on statewide protocols, formularies, or specified lists of conditions. Pharmacists may not prescribe controlled substances, with the exception of medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder, which pharmacists may only prescribe under a standing order from the Division of Public Health. In order to enable pharmacists to prescribe medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder under a standing order, this Act also amends the Uniform Controlled Susbstances Act in Chapter 47 of Title 16 to include “pharmacist” in the definition of “practitioner.” To ensure continuity of care, this Act also establishes requirements for documentation of treatment and communication with primary care providers. This Act takes effect immediately, but implementation is delayed by up to 1 year to give the Board of Pharmacy time to implement necessary regulations. This Act does not affect current law regarding the use of statewide protocols, standing orders, or collaborative practice agreements. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Joint Resolution directs the Department of Health & Social Services to explore and consider additional solutions for tackling the State's high cost of health care and to submit a report to the General Assembly by January 1, 2027, that explores the feasibility of additional strategies to lower health care costs. The report will explore updating the current Medicaid outlier methodology, ways to ensure further cost savings for 2027, and the feasibility of a statewide adoption of a global budget or 2-sided risk models, and will evaluate options for a public option or other publicly sponsored coverage strategy.
This Act modernizes Delaware law by adding modern medical treatment options biologics or biosimilars to the step therapy exception process. The current law was passed before biosimilars were widely available. Biosimilars are to biologics what generic drugs are to traditional drugs once their exclusivity expires. This revision adds an exclusion to step therapy protocol exceptions for interchangeable biologics and biosimilars.
This Act is a substitute for Senate Bill No. 319 and makes all of the following changes: 1. Changes the definition of “hormone replacement therapy” to clarify that hormone replacement therapy must be approved by the United States Food and Drug and Administration. 2. Removes pellet medication from the definition of “hormone replacement therapy” because it is not currently approved by the United States Food and Drug and Administration for treating menopause or perimenopause. 3. Makes technical corrections. Like Senate Bill No. 319, this substitute requires individual health insurance plans, group and blanket health insurance plans, the state employee health plan, and state Medicaid insurance to cover medically necessary diagnostic services and treatment for menopause, perimenopause, and symptoms of menopause or perimenopause, including all of the following: 1. Consultation and diagnostic testing. 2. Hormonal therapies, including hormone replacement therapy and bioidentical hormone treatments, that are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. 3. Non-hormonal treatments, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, neurokinin B antagonists, and other medications to manage menopause symptoms. 4. All drugs, devices, and combination products approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of menopause and perimenopause symptoms. 5. Therapy to treat menopause induced by a hysterectomy. 6. Behavioral health care services. 7. Pelvic floor physical therapy. 8. Bone health treatments due to hormonal changes related to menopause and perimenopause, including screenings and medications. 9. Preventative services for early detection and treatment of health conditions related to menopause and perimenopause, including osteoporosis and cancer. 10. Counseling and education regarding menopause management. Additionally, an insurer or carrier must provide clear and accessible information about covered diagnostic services and treatment for menopause, perimenopause, and menopause and perimenopause symptoms to each covered individual or Medicaid recipient. Menopause and perimenopause diagnostic and treatment benefits or assistance must be provided to the same extent as benefits or assistance for other medical conditions, but coverage for medically necessary hormone replacement therapy provided under this Act may not be any of the following, except as otherwise provided by federal Medicaid law: 1. Denied or limited, if the use of the hormone replacement therapy is supported by national clinical guidelines, national standards of care, or peer-reviewed medical literature for the treatment of menopause, perimenopause, or menopause and perimenopause symptoms. 2. Subject to prior authorization or step therapy requirements. The Act provides a religious exemption for group and blanket health policies. If the coverage requirement conflicts with a religious employer’s bona fide religious beliefs or practices, the religious employer may request a coverage exclusion for the coverage required under Section 2 of this Act and an insurer shall grant the exclusion. A religious employer who is granted an exclusion must give its employees reasonable and timely notice of the exclusion. This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certificates that are issued, renewed, modified, altered, amended, or reissued after December 31, 2027.
This Act creates a new Delaware Nursing Advancement Fund (Fund) for purposes of funding a nonprofit that will maintain information and conduct studies about the nursing workforce, advance the profession of nursing, monitor trends in the nursing applicant pool, facilitate partnerships, educate the public about opportunities and careers in nursing, and distribute information about the nursing workforce. Money for the Fund will come from a $10 fee on initial and renewal applications to the Board of Nursing, as well as any disciplinary fines. The Division of Professional Regulation will make a grant award to a nonprofit to accomplish the purposes of the Fund. This Act requires a three-fourths majority vote for passage because of the requirements of Section 4, Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution.
Sections 1 and 2 of this Act identify DHIN as the State’s sanctioned provider of Health Data Utility (HDU) services. The HDU concept arises and builds off of services provided by Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) such as DHIN. Including this language will align with DHIN’s development and assist the State in responding to federal and other grant funding opportunities that require or prefer collaboration with a sanctioned HDU. Section 2 of this Act is a clarifying provision that states DHIN’s ability to contract with organizations in furtherance of its mission in business arrangements that facilitate DHIN’s underlying mission, notwithstanding that those organizations may provide services (such as direct provision of treatment to patients) that DHIN does not directly provide under this chapter. It also makes a technical change to align the list of stakeholders identified with lists that appear elsewhere in the statute. Section 3 of this Act aligns DHIN’s use cases more clearly with the requirements of federal law that relate to using health data for analytic and research purposes, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Federal Policy for Protection of Human Subjects (the Common Rule) and makes a technical correction to a description of DHIN processes. This change will also ensure consistency between permitted uses of claims data for research purposes and permitted uses of clinical data. Sections 4 and 5 clarify DHIN’s ability to incorporate clinically relevant information into a patient’s longitudinal record, excluding pricing information, for access as permitted by the laws and regulations governing DHIN’s HIE services. This clarification ensures patients will have access to the clinical information included in claims data for their own uses. Section 5 makes a technical correction to recognize that DHIN’s enabling legislation and applicable federal law do not permit DHIN to “report” data to the public that would be suitable for the public health improvement research and activities purposes designed to be encouraged by that section, and clarifies that the identified agencies will have access to the standardized claims data sets curated by DHIN from the Delaware Health Care Claims Database as otherwise permitted under this statute at no cost.
Enacted in 2015, Chapter 25A of Title 16, the Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment Act created a voluntary process and a document that can used by patients with serious illness or frailty to provide direction to emergency care personnel regarding the patient's preferences in regard to scope of care and treatment. This Act changes the name "Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (DMOST)" under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to "Delaware Portable Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST)" to align with the national effort to create a uniform form. This Act contains a savings provision so that the name change under this Act does not affect the validity or effect of DMOST forms. This Act also revises Chapter 25A of Title 16 as follows: • Repeals requirements that conflict with the national model law regarding a patient’s ability to limit the future authority of the patient’s authorized representative to modify the orders in the patient’s POLST form. • Allows any health-care practitioner authorized under Chapter 25A of Title 16 to complete a POLST form to find that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. Under existing law, all practitioners who are licensed and authorized to write medical orders under Title 24 may complete POLST forms but only physicians can determine that a patient lacks sufficient decision-making capacity to execute a POLST form. This change is consistent with the capacity provisions under Chapter 25 of Title 16, the recently enacted Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act. • Requires that a health-care practitioner document their finding that a patient lacks decision-making capacity in the patient’s medical record. • Clarifies the existing requirement that a patient’s authorized representative may not execute a POLST form for a patient unless the patient’s lack of decision-making capacity is documented in the patient’s medical record. Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual, including corresponding name changes to other Code sections that reference the DMOST form. In § 2718(c)(5) of Title 21, the name for an advance health-care directive under Chapter 25 of Title 16 is also corrected.
Senate Substitute No. 1 for Senate Bill 208 differs from Senate Bill No. 208 in the following 9 ways: 1. Makes technical corrections, including changing § 3508A and § 3509A to § 3508B and § 3509B to avoid confusion with existing code sections in Chapter 35A of Title 24 of the Code, correcting the title for § 3509 and § 3509B, and making changes to use consistent language and structure. 2. Adds cognitive rehabilitation to the list of evidence-based therapeutic interventions under the practice of psychology. 3. Adds cognitive therapy to the list of therapies that are included as examples of evidence-based interventions. 4. Replaces "organic brain syndromes" with the modern term " brain-based disorders". 5. Adds programs accredited by the Canadian Psychological Association to the list of degree programs that are accepted by the Board of Examiners of Psychologists (Board) for licensure or registration under Chapter 35 of Title 24 of the Code. This makes it easier for individuals from Canada to be licensed or registered under Chapter 35 of Title 24 of the Code. 6. Removes from the qualifications of applicants for licensure as a licensed psychology associate the requirement that a master’s degree must be from a program with a minimum of 60 graduate semester hours, because the qualifications of applicants for licensure as a psychologist do not include a required number of semester hours for doctoral degree programs. The Board determines the qualifications of applicants, including whether the applicant’s degree is from a program that meets the requirements listed in § 3508 and § 3508B of Title 24. 7. In the scope of practice of a licensed psychology associate, replaces "general measures of cognitive abilities and achievement" with "measures of intellectual ability". This clarifies that a licensed psychology associate may not administer neuropsychological tests. 8. Updates registration as a doctoral-level psychological assistant under § 3509 and registration as a master's-level psychological assistant under § 3509B to reflect modern practice. The applicant for registration, not the supervising psychologist or supervising licensed psychology associate, is responsible for providing to the Board evidence of the applicant's qualifications for registration. Similar updates are made throughout Chapter 35 of Title 24 to reflect that the individual applying for registration is applying rather than the supervising psychologist or licensed psychology associate. 9. Removes the requirement for applicants for licensure or registrations under Chapter 35 of Title 24 to submit the applicant’s criminal history reports from the State Bureau of Identification (SBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to the Board. The Board directly receives electronic copies of each applicant’s criminal history reports from the SBI and the FBI, as provided in § 3508(b)(1), § 3508B(b)(1), §3509(b)(1), and §3509B(b)(1). Like SB 208, this Act adds 2 additional psychology professionals regulated under Chapter 35 of Title 24: (1) a licensed psychology associate and (2) a master’s-level psychological assistant. This Act also renames the psychological assistant registered under § 3509 of Title 24 to “doctoral-level psychological assistant” to mark the difference in education between the existing psychological assistant and the master’s-level psychological assistant added by this Act. This Act also changes § 3511 to clarify that licensing through reciprocity does not apply to individuals registered under § 3509 and § 3509B. A licensed psychology associate may independently practice at a master’s-level of education and training, subject to the limitations listed under § 3508B(e) added by this Act. The Board of Examiners of Psychologists (Board) may grant a license to practice as a licensed psychology associate if an applicant meets certain qualifications, including holding a master’s degree in psychology from an accredited school, completing an internship, obtaining at least 2 years of supervised professional experience, and achieving a passing score on a Board-approved examination. A licensed psychology associate is subject to the same standards as a psychologist licensed under Chapter 35 of Title 24, including handling of patient records, mandatory reporting, character and fitness requirements, and professional discipline. A licensed psychology associate also may be granted a license by reciprocity. An individual who is seeking further licensure under Chapter 35 of Title 24 may register as a master’s-level psychological assistant. A master’s-level psychological assistant may perform specific functions, appropriate for the assistant’s level of education and training, under the supervision of a licensed psychologist or licensed psychology associate. The supervising licensed psychologist or supervising licensed psychology associate may apply to the Board for registration of a master’s-level psychological assistant and shall provide to the Board evidence that the individual presented for registration has the required master’s-level of education and training, that the individual will receive appropriate training and supervision, that the individual meets character and fitness requirements. The supervising psychologist or licensed psychology associate must also give the Board a statement outlining the specific functions the master’s-level psychological assistant will perform under supervision. The individual seeking registration must provide a statement, under oath, that the individual will not practice independently, will perform only the specific functions outlined in the statement submitted by the supervising psychologist or supervising licensed psychology associate, and will not represent that the individual is a licensed psychologist or licensed psychology associate. A master’s-level psychological assistant is subject to the same professional standards and professional discipline as a doctoral-level psychological assistant. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Technical changes include removing deadlines that have passed and are no longer relevant, changing language to increase clarity and consistency, and changing the structure of certain paragraphs to increase readability and organization. Additionally, to clarify that all applicants for licensure or registration under Chapter 35 of Title 24 must provide criminal background checks, this Act moves the provision requiring applicants to provide fingerprints to obtain a criminal background report from § 3514 of Title 24 to the qualification requirements for each individual licensee or registrant under § 3508, § 3508B, § 3509, and § 3509B of Title 24. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 11 of Article VIII of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to impose or levy a tax or license fee. This Act is effective on its enactment and is to be implemented the earlier of the following: 1. Twelve months from the date of enactment. 2. Notice by the Board of Examiners of Psychology published in the Register of Regulations that final regulations to implement this Act have been adopted.
