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Utah laws take aim at access to care, physician payment

The new legislation is part of a 10-year health reform effort.

By Emily Berry — Posted March 25, 2009

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Utah lawmakers wrapped up a seven-week session March 12 with four major pieces of health care legislation signed by the governor, including new rules that proponents hope will help physicians cut administrative costs.

In addition to a medical liability insurance reform bill and a bill requiring large state contractors to offer health insurance to their employees, the governor also signed into law a bill establishing two new insurance options for Utah residents and another meant to simplify health insurance claims.

The Utah Medical Assn. helped push for some of the key reforms through its participation in the state's Health System Reform Task Force, said UMA President Cris Cowley, MD,an anesthesiologist in Salt Lake City. The committee's discussions all pointed to the need to change the health insurance system, he said. "Access to care, problems physicians have in dealing with patients, virtually everything got tied back into the way insurance currently functions."

Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, the state will allow insurance companies to sell low-cost, high-deductible policies that are exempt from offering the mandated coverage in other health insurance policies. The same bill creates the Utah NetCare Plan, a high-deductible plan meant for workers leaving a job or losing coverage who want a less-expensive alternative to COBRA.

It also calls for the creation of an Internet site where people can shop for health insurance and allows small employers to offer a defined benefit health plan, under which they can contribute a set amount to pay for an employee-chosen policy.

Another new law requires insurers to use standard codes to explain why a physician's claim was denied, something Dr. Cowley said he hoped would help the state's physicians cut practice costs.

That law also calls for insurers, hospitals and physicians to work toward adopting swipe-card technology.

The new laws are part of a 10-year process to address major health care problems, now in its second year.

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