I wanted to wish you and your families a Happy New Year! As we enter 2022, I would like to share several important pieces of legislation that will go into effect on January 1.
Legislation effective on the first day of the year includes:
- Law Enforcement Use of Force – The legislature delayed, from April 1, 2021, to January 1, 2022, the effective date of 2020 legislative changes affecting law enforcement use of force (PA 20-1). Among other things, these provisions limit the circumstances under which an officer’s use of deadly physical force is justified and establish factors to consider when evaluating whether the officer’s action was objectively reasonable.
- Prescription Drug Changes – The legislature enacted a law that generally prohibits certain health carriers from removing a covered prescription drug from a formulary (i.e., a list of covered drugs) or moving it to a higher cost sharing tier during a plan year (PA 21-96). The new law provides exceptions allowing health carriers to remove a prescription drug from a formulary with at least 90 days’ advance notice if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration questions the drug’s clinical safety or approves it for over-the-counter use and move a drug to a higher cost-sharing tier if it is available in-network for $40 or less per month in any tier.
- Long-Term Care – The legislature made several changes concerning long-term care services provided by nursing homes and dementia special care units. Among other things, the new law requires: these homes and units to employ a full-time infection and prevention control specialist; nursing homes to maintain at least a two-month supply of personal protective equipment for their staffs; DPH, by January 1, 2022, to modify minimum nursing home daily staffing levels to require at least three hours of direct care per resident; and nursing homes, by January 1, 2022, to take certain actions to ensure residents have regular opportunities for in-person and virtual visitation with family members and friends (PA 21-185). The legislature also enacted a law to allow nursing home and assisted living facility residents to designate an “essential support person” who may visit the resident even when there are general visitation restrictions (e.g., during a public health emergency).
|
