Illinois Legislature Working in Spring Session
The Illinois state legislature has been working in the legislative session for the second year of the 104th Illinois General Assembly. Historically, the second year of the legislative term concentrates on budgetary matters and more urgent legislative issues, resulting in a slightly reduced workload for lawmakers. This being an election year also complicates matters in the Capitol, as incumbent legislators who are on the ballot are especially careful about casting votes on controversial matters.
The legislature will convene most weeks throughout the spring and has set May 31 as the scheduled adjournment date. Each chamber has introduced nearly 1,500 new bills in this second year of the session. So, when adding these 3,000 bills to the roughly 7,000 bills introduced last year, there will have to be a lot of prioritizing by the legislative leadership to set the legislative agenda at a reasonable level.
Advertisement
ICS staff has been reviewing the thousands of new bill introductions that have poured in over the past months and will flag any legislation that could impact the work of a chiropractic physician. We will be advocating in the Capitol on behalf of ICS members throughout the session.
The ICS is again pushing provider non-discrimination legislation that would prohibit a group health plan from discriminating against a health care provider category, including prohibition of discriminatory insurance reimbursement amounts. Representative Kevin Schmidt (R-Millstadt), a chiropractic physician, has introduced HB 5131 on behalf of the ICS. We are working with a coalition of other healthcare providers with similar language on HB 4646 (Williams, J., D-Chicago) and SB 3000 (Fine, D-Glenview).
The ICS has also initiated legislation to clarify that chiropractic physicians are authorized under existing law to perform medical examinations for driver’s training instructors.
We are monitoring legislation has been introduced by other entities regarding preauthorization requirements for insurers, healthcare provider fee-splitting exceptions, Medical Practice Act clean-up provisions, and a number of small business/employer bills that could impact chiropractic practices. These issues will be followed closely, and any new information will be provided to ICS members as the session progresses.
The ICS is currently working with bill sponsors on a number of bills to amend the language to ensure that we safeguard chiropractic physicians’ interests. These topics include fee splitting, license applications, and fair contracting for healthcare professionals. Many introduced bills are not intended to adversely affect healthcare practices or chiropractic interests, but, as drafted, some bills could cause unintended consequences to the chiropractic profession. That is another reason the ICS devotes time and resources to review all legislation and advocate for ICS members before the legislature.
As the legislature has been busy in this second year of the 104th Illinois General Assembly, so has the ICS in following bills that could affect chiropractic authority and practice. We acknowledge and thank ICS members who support this important work by joining and helping the ICS to advocate on behalf of all chiropractic physicians.
