Legislators have one more week to get their bills heard on the opposite floor before session wraps up with the budget and conference committees which will deal with any remaining bills.

Here’s a run down of the last week’s action:

• SB458 – The Republican caucus in the House continued to discuss SB458, the APRN/nurse midwife bill to decide whether to hear it on the floor and in what form. We continued to express our opposition to the measure as it is written now and spoke with many key caucus members.
• HB1688 – which is about the Health Information Exchange, awaits a floor hearing. Sen. Standridge has filed a floor amendment seeking to make participation optional for providers. The coalition of health associations continues to discuss the HIE and are trying to find the best next steps.
• HB1657 – passed the floor. This measure requires the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to streamline the process for Medicaid provider enrollment and credentialing for any fee-for-service and managed care systems.

Several drug related bills also passed and are on their way to the governor:

• HB2424 – allows pharmacies to dispense and sell a wider variety of opioid antagonists to counteract overdoses.
• SB249 – defines palliative care and allows a practitioner who orders a controlled dangerous substance to be administered through a hospice program in either a private residence or a long-term care facility where the patient resides will be exempt from electronic prescription requirements.
• SB665 – removes the requirement for providers of buprenorphine with naloxone, as used for medication-assisted treatment services, to register with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.
• SB668 – removes ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, and pseudoephedrine from the list of substances that require registration with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

Wish us luck in the last week of floor action!