BRINGING PHYSICIANS AND LEGISLATORS TOGETHER : CONTINUED
Right : AMS Executive Vice President David Wroten and Sen . Missy Irvin testify before the Senate Public Health Committee in 2019 . Left : Rep . Lee Johnson , MD , speaks at the well on the House of Representatives floor in 2021 .
program , you already have a built-in reason to not do unnecessary tests and procedures . Our bill has an exemption , which may be an area for negotiation but it ’ s a place to start .”
THE CORPORATE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE ACT
Sen . Cecile Bledsoe ( second from left ) was recognized by AMS for a decade of extraordinary service in the Arkansas State Senate in 2017 . With Sen . Bledsoe is David Wroten , Scott Smith , and AMS General Counsel Mike Mitchell .
In 2022 , Texas passed a gold card bill and other states are doing the same . Here in Arkansas , AMS assisted in the drafting of similar legislation , sponsored by Rep . Lee Johnson , MD , saying that if a physician meets a certain threshold , a prior authorization will not be necessary for certain procedures every time one is scheduled . “ For example , if the insurance company can look back and see that a physician is being approved 90 % of the time for a particular procedure , then for a certain period of time , the physician does not need to ask for a prior authorization ,” said Smith .
Also , the Society is interested in having a provision saying if you are in a valuebased reimbursement with a carrier , you don ’ t have to do PAs at all , which Wroten says makes sense . “ If you are held responsible for your reimbursement from a carrier that depends on meeting certain metrics , even if it ’ s an incentive-based
This session , the Society is also working on cleanup language related to the Corporate Practice of Medicine Act , which defines who can practice medicine and who can employ physicians practicing medicine . “ Last session , a bill was introduced to remove all obstacles to the corporate practice of medicine ,” said Wroten . This bill would have allowed anybody to open a medical practice in Arkansas without any physician involvement .
Wroten and Smith believe that bill may be brought back this session , so over the last few months they ’ ve worked on a draft that will be a collaborative effort with the Arkansas Hospital Association . “ This is a decades-old issue of who can own a clinic , who can employ a physician , and it ’ s too important not to get right ,” said Wroten .
76 THE JOURNAL OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAL SOCIETY