S.B. 89 Health Care Services Platforms: transcript

Thank you Chair. Appreciate you guys putting me back on this agenda. Um, pleased to be here. It's a quick follow up bill. From last year when we passed, I don't remember the number, but we passed a bill that was, uh, meant to regulate app-based platforms where healthcare workers pick up shifts. So it's kind of like Uber, but for nurses, right? If you are a hospital or a clinic and you need a nurse, you can post a job on this platform and the nurses will say, yes, I can come to that job. Um, but after passage, stakeholders noted that the wording pulled in some advanced practice clinicians, even though those already go under multiple layers of credentialing through staffing agencies, and the, the platforms don't contract with them or take on any oversight. So this bill simply makes a small amendment, uh, to narrow the law to its original purpose, to exclude physicians and advanced practice providers so that existing models aren't disrupted. That concludes my presentation.

Sure. Fine. Thank you. Uh, uh, committee for, for hearing us out on this. My name is Eddie Christensen. I'm the General counsel of CHG Healthcare. We're a company that is based in mill, uh, in Midvale. Uh, and we've been, uh, in Utah since 1979. So a long, uh, physician staffing company. For the most part. I concur with mining of, uh, Senator Fillmore's comments about this bill. It's that the original focus was on an app-based platform in which nurses or other health allied healthcare providers could contract directly with a hospital. Um, we think that it was a little bit overbroad in the language. Um, the original concern was really about licensing and credentials, um, when there's no employer or staffing agency in a typical locum tenants, uh, arrangement, which our company engages in, physicians and advanced practice clinicians contract with staffing agencies who do conduct comprehensive licensing and credentialing verifications. This bill was intending to deal with those kinds of things and to make sure some of those things were captured. Um, but although the platforms may be used to coordinate scheduling and match clinicians to healthcare facilities or open shifts, they don't contract with physicians directly. And as Senator Fillmore has pointed out, um, in this particular scenario, the accountability for those credentialing things typically lie with the staffing agency, which is our agency. Um, they're already heavily regulated. Um, there is a credentialing process. There's a privileging process that also occurs, um, at the hospital. And so this amendment is really a, a very narrow attempt to clarify, um, that those types of scenarios don't apply in this particular scenario. So I'll yield my time and, and answer any questions if there are any.

We go. Thank you. So, I, I mean, I just wanna state back to what I think you just said. So that previously a broad array of healthcare providers could go through the app, but realizing that certain healthcare providers did have to have a very different credentialing process, in particular physicians, nurse practitioners, and PAs, that those could not functionally go through the app because it wouldn't provide that credentialing process. So we just state that in this. That's correct. Very good. Thank you.

Uh, thank you. Um, I would like to make a motion that we favorably recommend Senate Bill 89.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I was just laughing at, uh, marriage amendments in the, in the committee. So, um, I brought some crow right here in my corner. Um, uh, so, but this one is on your agenda, Madam Chair. 'cause I think you guys heard this last year. Um, so we passed, uh, uh, maybe it was called Healthcare Services Platforms. And it just created some guidelines by which, um, you know, online platforms, um, like you could think about Uber or, um, bacon is one that I use as a business owner, right? It's like where you can post temporary jobs and get people to come and fill your jobs. But when we're dealing with the medical profession, of course there are license requirements. And so we just had some things in there. And over the course of the year, just in implementing it, uh, some healthcare people reached out and there's a little bit abroad. So could you narrow this so that it does not include physicians, advanced practice, registered nurses, certified NWI midwives, and physician assistants. So this just narrows the scope, uh, to eliminate advanced practice medical practitioners. Why are we, uh, eliminating advanced? I'll let the, uh, I know. Are you here? Do you They can come up. Okay. Alright.

Hello, I'm Autumn Gay with CHG Healthcare Services. Okay. I believe the question is, why would we, why would we exclude these advanced practitioners? Right. I believe the intent behind this, uh, original law was to cover what we see as a new space in which we have specifically platforms where, uh, usually lesser licensed or lower licensed practitioners, such as nurses, would directly, uh, select a shift from a hospital or other healthcare facility. And in the staffing world where we place temporary healthcare providers, we already have a robust framework to ensure that the providers who are being placed have, are credentialed, have medical malpractice, have all of these things that were intended to also be captured for this new space, in which, let's say a nurse would go and select the shift, but there was nobody else, no agency that would necessarily ensure that they had their license, that they had coverage. And so, what this has done is created an unattended consequence for these agencies who place independent physicians or independent advanced practitioners who are already covering these pieces to have to interact with a platform that normally wouldn't be doing the, it's really just acting as a place to transact and to support the job placement. So I think another way of saying that is it was just not intended to cover these folks that were already showing that they have the right credentials and are licensed, uh, licensed, if that answers That question. And insured. And insured, yes.

We would speak in support of this. We have spoken with, uh, other members of the industry to ensure that we're aligned. We've worked on the language to make sure that we don't have any, hopefully any other unintended consequences of it. This will continue to support being able to place providers and advanced practitioners to provide care to healthcare.

I was just looking up the bill number. It's SB 89. Okay. I move that, uh, we recommend SB 89 to the full body of the Senate.

Thank you Mr. President Pro Tem. Uh, last year we passed a bill meant to update app-based platforms where some healthcare workers might pick up shifts. You know, if one nurse calls in sick, then you know, a hospital or a clinic can post, I've got this shift open and then users of the app can say, I'll fill that shift. So after this bill passed, some stakeholders approached us noting that the wording of the bill pulled in some advanced practice clinicians, even though they already undergo multiple layers of credentialing through staffing agencies and healthcare facilities. And in that way, uh, what was last year's Senate Bill 2 28 created some unnecessary duplicative regulations. So this bill amends what we passed last year to simply narrow the law to its original purpose and clearly excludes physicians and advanced practice providers so that existing and well-regulated staffing models aren't disrupted.

You. I move that Senate Bill 89. Be read a third time.

Senator Vickers Baldy Aye. Lewin Brammer bus us Colmore Escamilla Fillmore Grover Harper Aye. Hins Aye. Ipson johnson. Juab Aye. McKay Mikel Aye. Milner Aye. Musman Owens pitcher Plum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Bickers Weiler Wilson Winterton, president Adams

Motion is to Circle, oh, I, I'm sorry. Uh, lemme withdraw that I didn't realize the handout had had come out. Thank you, uh, Mr. President, if I can withdraw that. Okay. Alright. So this is one of the bills

Thank you Mr. President. I, I've been really learning a lot and, and listening to a lot of voices. I'd like to circle this bill and, and continue to working on making it better.

Senate Bill 89 Healthcare Services Platforms by Senator Fillmore. This bill was heard in Health and Human Services with a vote of 10 0 4. The House sponsors Representative Owens Madam Marine Clerk, Representative Owens.

Sorry, Mr. Speaker. Um, this is a bill that we passed last year, just technical correction to, um, eliminate the references to this is a platform that allows people to match shifts when they're, um, temp employees in the medical sector. And it had, uh, over broad language that related to, uh, uh, higher level medical providers. It's intended to be, uh, not cover doctors and advanced specialists, so just, uh, nursing and, uh, other kinds of techs, radiation techs and so forth. So we're just, it's just a technical correction. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.