Health care

This bill sets the base budget for the state Department of Health and Human Services agencies overseen by the Social Services Appropriations Committee at about $8.6 billion total for the next fiscal year, including about $1.6 billion from the General Fund.

The bill changes the timing for ending Medicaid expansion if Utah's expansion trigger law is activated by federal changes, giving the Legislature at least one session to respond instead of an immediate July 1 sunset.

This bill directs the State Board of Education to create a five-year pilot program for elementary schools in rural counties to promote physical activity and healthy eating.

The bill lets a court appoint a receiver to fix problems at a small water system that is violating drinking water rules, or merge that system into a better-run one.

The bill would require behavioral health providers listed in insurance directories to respond to insurer requests for accurate information, with a citation penalty for repeated failures to respond.

H.B. 97 would let certain medical facilities, such as operating room, emergency, or surgical centers, give patients the unused portion of a non-controlled medication like eye drops or ointment to take home after a procedure.

H.B. 117 would put links on heavily used state websites, such as the tax commission and hunting and fishing license sites, that encourage people to sign up as organ donors.

H.B. 122 would extend the limits on restraining inmates to cover up to 12 weeks after childbirth, with exceptions for security or safety risks.

H.B. 171 would update Utah's statute on physician assistants so it matches a standard change the Legislature made in 2021 to the Utah Physician Assistant Act.

The bill changes how often certified food safety managers must renew their certification, from every three years to every five years.

H.B. 174 would make permanent the state's ban on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, so no new minors could start these treatments.

The bill would require operators of DNA sequencers with hidden remote-access components that could send genetic data to unauthorized parties to disable those functions by 2027.

This bill strengthens the Utah Health Data Authority, which collects health data, by requiring a public strategic plan covering collection, management, analysis, sharing, and security.

The bill would let local governments create 'stay out of drug areas' where law enforcement can keep repeat offenders out of targeted public spaces with open drug markets.

This bill changes the procedures for court-ordered competency evaluations of criminal defendants without changing how the evaluations are done.

H.B. 230 would let county jails help inmates serving longer than six months renew or replace driver's licenses or state IDs before release, including through a virtual option.

This bill would require private health insurers that cover gender transition procedures, such as hormone treatments and surgery, to also cover detransition procedures if the insured person wants them.

This bill would require health care providers and the companies that run medical record systems to let parents see their minor children's medical records.

The bill lets a prescriber allow refills of certain non-controlled, long-term medications for up to two years instead of one.

H.B. 269 would set a base rate that ambulance providers can charge, covering their service fees, supplies, and medications, with one mileage fee allowed on top.

This bill would eliminate non-compete clauses in healthcare worker contracts, so workers could work elsewhere after leaving.

H.B. 303 would set rules for court-ordered mental health therapy for children when parents disagree, including using insurance when available and considering ability to pay.

The bill would require the state to pay for medical care for people in state correctional custody at the Medicare rate, instead of the higher charge rates the University of Utah hospitals and clinics currently bill.

This bill asks the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a guide for street medicine providers, which offer medical care to unsheltered people, and gives the department rulemaking authority.

H.B. 343 lets a nursing care facility keep its licensed Medicaid beds suspended for up to five years during a remodel or addition, instead of the current three.

The bill would add definitions for 340B covered entities and 340B eligible drugs to Utah law and clarify which actions are prohibited under the federal 340B drug discount program.

H.B. 374 moves licensing for audiologists and speech-language pathologists out of the State Board of Education and into the state's licensing division, and phases out the separate licensing board.

The bill extends the enhanced penalties for threats or assaults against health care workers and facilities from their January 2027 repeal date to 2032.

This bill makes technical cleanup changes to Utah's health and human services code after the merger of two state agencies.

H.B. 390 would create a clinical study of psychedelic treatment for veterans with treatment-resistant PTSD, to be conducted at Huntsman Mental Health Institute under existing federal and university research protocols.

The bill would create a controlled substance license that emergency medical services agencies could hold, allowing them to deliver controlled substances and medications under a licensing process.

H.B. 414 would add hospitals to the list of public health settings where dental hygienists can practice without a dentist's general supervision.

H.B. 417 would let a medically stable patient move between medical facilities by their own means, such as a rideshare, public transit, or a friend or family member, instead of by ambulance, if their doctor approves and they arrive within two hours.

This bill would require health insurers to contract with the state's mobile mammography providers serving third through sixth class counties, so insured women can get covered screenings there.

The bill changes Utah law on the Medicaid and SNAP programs to match federal rules.

The bill requires pharmacy benefit managers to give pharmacies a phone number, email, and website for appeals, and to share their price lists with pharmacies.

H.B. 531 would give scarification, a body art procedure that removes layers of skin to form a designed scar, its own set of safety rules separate from tattooing.

The bill would make October Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month in Utah.

This bill would require the Department of Health and Human Services to create a dashboard that combines spending data already reported by Medicaid managed care organizations, so the state can see where the money goes.

H.B. 572 would fund a receiving center grant program, raise Collaborative Care Medicaid rates, continue a family outreach specialist at the Office of Medical Examiner, and add peer support and suicide prevention funding, along with changes to the Sequential Intercept model and civil commitment processes.

The bill would let children in DCFS foster care keep their current mental health therapist when they move to a new family or leave custody, as long as the child is already receiving therapy.

The bill would move interest earned by the Medicaid expansion fund into the state's general fund each year.

This resolution directs PEHP, the state public employee health plan, to set up a pilot program letting qualified public employees and their families use GLP-1 weight-loss drugs in place of bariatric surgery.

This concurrent resolution directs the Public Employees' Health Program (PEHP) to cover bioidentical hormone therapy for members who are already covered for menopausal hormone treatment.

This resolution asks Congress to support federal funding for the Second Chance Reauthorization Act, which helps pay for prisoner reentry programs, and to reform federal cell phone jamming rules for prisons.

S.B. 12 extends the expiration date of Utah's Alternative Dispute Resolution Act from July 1, 2026 to July 1, 2036, so the law keeps existing rather than ending.

This bill removes certain outdated or redundant reporting requirements that the law enforcement and criminal justice interim committee had been assigned.

Senate Bill 47 renews the state's administrative rules for executive agencies for another year.

S.B. 50 would require health benefit plans to pay for medically necessary anesthesia services.

Senate Bill 55 would let practitioners who use placental tissue in stem cell treatments give patients notice of where that tissue comes from.

SB 73 would require websites where at least a third of content is adult material to verify visitors' ages, and would place a 2% excise tax on paid access to such content, collected by the Tax Commission.

The bill would bar Utah from disciplining or taking action against a physician's license for declining to take part in a state-sponsored execution.

The bill lets licensed professionals, such as therapists and psychologists, administer dyslexia assessments within their scope of practice.

If the federal government moves an FDA-approved drug off Schedule I and assigns it a federal controlled-substance schedule, Utah would adopt that same schedule for the drug under state law.

S.B. 87 would let expired naloxone, the overdose reversal drug, continue to be supplied, used, and distributed for up to two years past its expiration date.

This bill narrows last year's law on app-based platforms that match temporary healthcare shifts with workers.

S.B. 96 would let the Office of the Medical Examiner's opioid fatality review committee access treatment records of people who have died, despite federal confidentiality protections for those records.

This bill would let the Department of Health and Human Services, working with the Department of Workforce Services, create a voluntary certification program for employers who want to be recognized as recovery ready workplaces.

The bill sets statewide pediatric readiness standards for emergency care, based on the National Pediatric Readiness Project, and covers only 24-hour emergency departments.

This bill makes a set of technical changes to Utah's child welfare laws.

This bill moves the Medicaid Inspector General's office into the Department of Government Operations, where it reports to that department's executive director, and sets performance metrics for the office.

S.B. 150 creates a process for the Office of Professional Licensure Review to review requests to change healthcare scope of practice, often prompted by new technology, and report recommendations to the Legislature.

S.B. 158 would add licensed residential support programs accredited by the American Camp Association to the list of providers whose recreational therapy can be reimbursed under Medicaid.

The bill extends an existing Medicaid rule that ties reimbursement rates for autism-related services to the same annual inflation adjustment used for other services, so those rates stay close to rates for other children.

The bill would require health care providers, including midwives, to explain the newborn vitamin K shot to parents.

S.B. 174 would let health care providers and facilities decline to take part in certain procedures, such as abortion, based on religious belief or conscience, as long as they give advance notice.

This bill would require a study of autism diagnosis wait lists, which providers insurers reimburse, and the costs of applied behavior analysis treatment.

S.B. 204 would classify physical therapy providers as primary care rather than specialty providers for insurance cost-sharing, so patients would pay the lower primary-care copay or deductible for physical therapy.

The bill would expand Utah's Right to Try law so patients with eligible illnesses that are not necessarily terminal can seek investigational drugs or devices that have passed phase one trials.

This bill would require the Legislature, rather than state environmental agencies, to approve any state rules that go beyond federal environmental standards.

SB 251 creates a process for local governments and local health departments to recover extraordinary costs from responding to environmental enforcement, working with the Department of Environmental Quality.

S.B. 261 would clarify the rules for collaborative practice agreements between pharmacists and physicians and add vaccines and epinephrine to the medications pharmacists may prescribe and administer.

The bill lets the Department of Health and Human Services set quality measures for certain Medicaid providers, such as disability service providers, hospice nurses, personal care assistants, foster care providers, and nursing homes.

This bill would let Utah hospitals impose a new assessment on the portion of federal Medicaid payments above the current cap.

The bill requires the Safe UT app to be available in multiple languages, including Spanish, using a HIPAA-compliant automated translation software application rather than only bilingual staff.

S.B. 314 would require the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a sleep disorders education program and educational materials for state entities and healthcare providers.

S.B. 319 would require health insurers to publicly post their prior authorization criteria in plain language and to disclose to patients, providers, and the state insurance department when artificial intelligence is used to review authorization requests.

This resolution asks the Public Employees' Health Program to treat non-opioid pain medications the same as opioids in its coverage rules, including copays and prior authorization, so that no patient must try an opioid first.

This concurrent resolution encourages the medical community to raise awareness of and improve diagnosis of POTS and related autonomic disorders in children and adolescents.

This resolution amends court rules on civil cases.

The bill would require health care offices to give a patient written information on how to file a complaint with the Division of Professional Licensing when the patient reports possible professional misconduct.

The bill extends the repeal dates for several health and human services councils, grant programs, and a behavioral health crisis response commission, so they would continue instead of ending on their scheduled dates.

The bill lets the state bill Medicaid for inmates' health care during the 90 days before release, using a federal waiver.

This bill would treat a person found not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial in a criminal case as a restricted person for dangerous weapons purposes, whether the charge is a felony or a misdemeanor.

The bill would require residential treatment centers, sometimes called halfway or group homes, to give neighbors within 300 feet a contact card with a phone number and email address within 30 days before or after a new facility opens.

This bill clarifies that a child's death by suicide can be treated as child abuse homicide when the abuse directly or proximately caused it, and that suicide cannot be used as a defense in such a case.

H.B. 156 would require Utah hospitals and providers to allow patients to store and transfuse blood from directed or autologous donations collected by a licensed vendor the patient chooses, for planned surgeries and procedures only.

The bill would bar the state's public employee health insurance program, PEHP, from paying for elective transgender medical procedures.

H.B. 202 would allow acupuncture education and licensing to take place in Utah, so people would not have to leave the state for about four years of training to become acupuncturists.

H.B. 257 would stop the state from printing and paying for opioid information pamphlets.

H.B. 277 would exempt traditional healers from needing a state license when they provide traditional health services as defined in state code.

H.B. 295 would change Utah's Good Samaritan overdose law so that a person who seeks help for an overdose, or is overdosing, can use an affirmative defense against a drug charge only if it is a first offense and they show proof of a substance abuse evaluation and any recommended treatment.

This bill would create a program that lets small, rural first responder agencies buy into access to the Department of Public Safety network for $25.

The bill would let people who were sexually assaulted while incarcerated get mental health services through the Utah Office for Victims of Crime, even if they report the assault only after release.

The bill would create a Preceptor Fund to pay clinicians who train healthcare students.

The bill would require decontamination of properties, such as hotel rooms, where meth or fentanyl is found, adding drug use as a trigger alongside drug labs.

The bill would regulate companion chatbots, meaning AI chatbots designed to act as relationships, and would require them to let users request copies of saved conversations and get clear permission before using sensitive personal data.

H.B. 476 changes Utah's insanity defense rules under the title Insanity Defense Amendments.

The bill lets a patient who had a miscarriage or a medically indicated abortion ask her health care provider to note in her medical record that the procedure was not an elective abortion.

S.B. 24 would extend the expiration date of Utah's health care providers immunity from liability act by 10 years, from its current sunset to July 1, 2036.

This bill would create a peer coaching mental health counseling grant administered by the Utah Board of Higher Education.

This bill would add two new members to the Utah Homeless Services Board.

The bill would bar courts from letting juries hear evidence of insurance payments, discounts, write-offs, or other collateral benefits in personal injury and other civil tort cases, except medical malpractice cases.

The bill would create a restricted account of about $5 million, funded from the general fund, to pay for dental and oral health care for uninsured K-12 children.

This bill would repeal state licensing requirements for commercial interior designers, court reporters, deception detection practitioners, and music therapists, so people in those jobs would no longer need a state license.