The 99th South Dakota Legislature ended in historic fashion, with no vetoes being issued by Governor Noem. It was also another great year for healthcare funding, with Medicaid providers receiving a 4% across the board increase ($62.6M) and community-based providers receiving a bump to 98% of their reimbursement methodology on top of the ($13.3M). For SDAHO members, the community-based providers include assisted living, nursing homes, behavioral health, and in-home providers. Since assisted living just had a rate methodology review, their total budget increase was 18.3% to the base rate.
SDAHO also saw many wins in the policy space, including:
- Defining palliative care in state law,
- Moving forward a feasibility study on the Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE),
- Allowing air ambulance providers to utilize ground transportation methods in case of weather or mechanical issues, and
- Addressing discriminatory acts against entities participating in the 340B drug pricing program.
All of these wins continue to build on the momentum healthcare providers are seeing with the state legislature. There were also several anti-healthcare bills that were defeated aimed at childhood vaccines, Covid vaccines, school physicals, and more. If there are items you believe SDAHO should start looking at for the 2025 legislative session, please let us know as now is the time to start working on that.
Federal Update
Federally, the SDAHO Advocacy Team is tracking a couple pieces of 340B regulation. First, the Protect 340B act (HR2534), which Representative Dusty Johnson is a sponsor of, looks to protect health providers participating in the 340B drug pricing program against discriminatory actions by pharmacy benefit managers and health insurance plans. This would help to build on the legislation that was passed in South Dakota this year. Second, Senator John Thune and the “gang of six” are working on additional legislation to ensure the 340B program’s success into the future with the Supporting Underserved and Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Integrity Now and for the Future of 340B (SUSTAIN 340B) Act. SDAHO recently submitted a letter in response to a request for information from the group, focusing on the needs of providing healthcare in a rural state.
Over the next couple of months, CMS will be releasing several proposed rules that will impact Medicare reimbursements, such as IPPS, OPPS, SNF, Medicare Advantage, and more. SDAHO will continue to analyze these proposed rules, send analyses to impacted members, and submit response letters to CMS to voice support or concern over the various changes being proposed. The SDAHO Advocacy Team will also continue to do hill visits and meet with our federal delegates regarding priorities for South Dakota healthcare providers.
Looking Forward
In Pierre, Jacob Parsons, Director of Advocacy and Reimbursement, will continue to watch our State Legislature as they work through the 2024 interim. This includes monitoring interim committees, including Appropriations, Executive Board, and the Rules Review Committees. Additionally, there will be a summer study to look closer at the impacts of artificial intelligence and the legislature’s ability to regulate it. As healthcare evolves and includes more artificial intelligence products, any changes here could have impacts on our providers across the state.
If you have any questions about what is included in this update, or anything else related to SDAHO’s Advocacy efforts, please reach out to Jacob at Jacob.Parsons@sdaho.org.
