Oregon Legislation

This bill tried to allow the Oregon Health Authority to seek and receive money from the state’s general fund to pay for crisis intervention services and residential care for people with behavioral health conditions.

This bill tried to change sections of the state insurance law about autism coverage and parity. It would apply the section of the law about autism coverage to self-insured state employee plans, self-insured plans for public school teachers, and self-insured plans for Oregon Health and Science University.
The bill would have changed the parity section of the insurance law so that it applied to public employee plans, including the self-insured plans listed above.

This bill tried to change the state insurance law so that insurers would have to include in their annual reports to the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services information about how they determine their reimbursement rates for licensed clinical social workers. The bill also would have directed the House Interim Committee on Health Care to study how insurers determine their usual, customary, and reasonable charges and decide if they are violating the parity section of the state insurance law.

This bill tried to create a new section of the state insurance law about autism coverage. Here is how this bill would have been different than what is currently in the section of state law about autism coverage:

• Contains no age-specific requirements
• No specific requirements for weekly hours of applied behavior analysis
• Defines autism spectrum disorder as Asperger’s disorder, autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
• Defines treatment of autism as behavioral health treatment, pharmacy care, psychiatric care, psychological care, rehabilitative care, augmentative communication devices, medical accommodations for usual care, coordination of care, and any other services that are medically necessary
• Lists extensive requirements for autism line therapists
• Does not restrict plans to reviewing a child’s treatment plan to only once every 6 months

This bill tried to create a new section of the state insurance law about autism coverage. Here is how this bill would have been different than what is currently in the section of state law about autism coverage:

• Contains no age-specific requirements
• No specific requirements for weekly hours of applied behavior analysis
• Defines autism spectrum disorder as Asperger’s disorder, autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
• Defines treatment of autism as behavioral health treatment, pharmacy care, psychiatric care, psychological care, rehabilitative care, augmentative communication devices, medical accommodations for usual care, coordination of care, and any other services that are medically necessary
• Lists extensive requirements for autism line therapists
• Does not restrict plans to reviewing a child’s treatment plan to only once every 6 months

This bill tried to change the state medical assistance (Medicaid) law so that the Oregon Health Authority would no longer be allowed to contract with separate managed care organizations for physical health services and mental health services (eliminates carve-out arrangements).

This bill attempted to insert a section into the state insurance law that prohibited insurers from discriminating in determining reimbursement rates for any provider. The bill specifically mentions that this discrimination is prohibited in the determination of rate reimbursement for clinical social workers, nurse practitioners, psychologists, professional counselors, and marriage and family therapists. This bill is similar to HB 3358 introduced in 2016.

This bill tried to create a new section of the state insurance law about autism coverage. Here is how this bill would have been different than what is currently in the section of state law about autism coverage:

• Contains no age-specific requirements
• Requires 87 hours per month for applied behavior analysis
• Defines autism spectrum disorder as Asperger’s disorder, autistic disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
• Defines treatment of autism as habilitative or rehabilitative care, pharmacy care, psychiatric care, psychological care, therapeutic care augmentative communication devices, medical accommodations for usual care, coordination of care, and any other services that are medically necessary
• Allows public employee plans to have a separate $500 deductible for autism coverage, use 20% coinsurance rate for autism services, and have no limits for out-of-pocket expenses

This bill tried to change the section of the state insurance law about coverage for pervasive developmental disorder, specifically about autism coverage. Here is how this bill would have been different than what is currently in the separate section of state law about autism coverage:

• Contains no age-specific requirements
• Contains no specific treatment hour requirements for applied behavior analysis
• Defines autism spectrum disorder as Asperger’s disorder, autistic disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
• Defines treatment of autism as habilitative or rehabilitative care, pharmacy care, psychiatric care, psychological care, therapeutic care augmentative communication devices, coordination of care, and any other services that are medically necessary
• Only allows insurance plans to review a child’s treatment plan once every 12 months

This bill tried to change the state insurance law so that insurers would have to include in their annual reports to the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Services information about how they determine their reimbursement rates for licensed clinical social workers. The bill also would have directed the House Interim Committee on Health Care to study how insurers determine their usual, customary, and reasonable charges and decide if they are violating the parity section of the state insurance law.

This bill tried to change the section of the state insurance law about coverage for pervasive developmental disorder, specifically about autism coverage. Here is how this bill would have been different than what is currently in the separate section of state law about autism coverage:

• Requires plans to cover autism services for individuals under 21
• Sets annual maximum of $36,000 instead of 25 hour per week limit
• Defines autism spectrum disorder as Asperger’s disorder, autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, and any of the pervasive developmental disorders in the DSM
• Defines treatment of autism as applied behavior analysis, prescription drugs, blood level tests, psychiatric care, psychological care, speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy
• No language about how often an insurance plan can review a child’s treatment plan
• Applies to Medicaid plans