This Act clarifies that individual, group, and blanket health insurance carriers must provide for and pay for services (including immunizations) that were recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) that were in effect as of January 1, 2025. They must also cover immunizations that were supported by national clinical guidelines or national standards of care in effect on January 1, 2025. To that end, this Act removes provisions that permit carriers to deny coverage for these items or services simply because they are not currently recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC and the comprehensive guidelines supported by the HRSA. This Act also removes obsolete United States Preventative Task Force provisions related to breast cancer screening from 2009.
This Act modernizes Delaware’s pharmacy practice laws by authorizing pharmacists to practice to the full extent of their education and training. Pharmacists have the expertise necessary to provide patient care beyond what current Delaware law allows, and enabling them to do so is an important step toward expanding access to health care in this State. Under this Act, pharmacists are permitted to independently evaluate patients, identify health conditions, order and prescribe laboratory tests, and prescribe drugs or devices without reliance on statewide protocols, formularies, or specified lists of conditions. Pharmacists may not prescribe controlled substances, with the exception of medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder, which pharmacists may only prescribe under a standing order from the Division of Public Health. In order to enable pharmacists to prescribe medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder under a standing order, this Act also amends the Uniform Controlled Susbstances Act in Chapter 47 of Title 16 to include “pharmacist” in the definition of “practitioner.” To ensure continuity of care, this Act also establishes requirements for documentation of treatment and communication with primary care providers. This Act takes effect immediately, but implementation is delayed by up to 1 year to give the Board of Pharmacy time to implement necessary regulations. This Act does not affect current law regarding the use of statewide protocols, standing orders, or collaborative practice agreements. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Joint Resolution directs the Department of Health & Social Services to explore and consider additional solutions for tackling the State's high cost of health care and to submit a report to the General Assembly by January 1, 2027, that explores the feasibility of additional strategies to lower health care costs. The report will explore updating the current Medicaid outlier methodology, ways to ensure further cost savings for 2027, and the feasibility of a statewide adoption of a global budget or 2-sided risk models, and will evaluate options for a public option or other publicly sponsored coverage strategy.
This Act does all of the following: (1) Establishes a regulatory framework for substance use harm reduction programs that provides immunities for program providers and staff. (2) Modifies the definition of drug paraphernalia. (3) Decriminalizes possession of paraphernalia for individuals who use drugs, while retaining prohibitions for paraphernalia used in the manufacturing or distribution of drugs and the selling of certain drug paraphernalia. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act revises Delaware law governing behavioral health treatment provider organizations by establishing a comprehensive statutory framework governing licensing, oversight, enforcement, client rights, provider duties, incident reporting, and investigations relating to behavioral health treatment services. The Act consolidates and modernizes statutory provisions governing behavioral health treatment oversight and clarifies the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health's authority to license programs, investigate incidents, and enforce compliance with this chapter. This Act is a substitute for and differs from Senate Bill No. 161 by doing all of the following: (1) Expands the definition of the protection and advocacy system to reference all applicable federal protection and advocacy statutes. (2) Revises the client rights provisions by reorganizing and clarifying the rights framework, adding rights related to discharge planning and continuing care, clarifying the standard for permissible limitations on client rights, including a requirement that any limitation be for the shortest duration feasible, and revising the standard governing the use of restrictive intervention to align with existing Delaware law. (3) Expands standing to enforce client rights to include clients and their authorized representatives in addition to the Attorney General and the protection and advocacy system. (4) Adds a savings clause clarifying that nothing in this Act abrogates the rights and requirements applicable to long-term care facilities under Chapter 11 of Title 16. (5) Adds elopement to the definition of incident for purposes of the incident reporting requirements. (6) Modifies the provisions relating to the protection and advocacy system by expanding the system's access authority to reference all applicable federal and State law, adding a requirement that the Division notify the protection and advocacy system no more than 72 hours after receiving a report of a client death, authorizing staff to make discretionary reports to the protection and advocacy system, and extending anti-retaliation protections to staff who report to or cooperate with the protection and advocacy system. (7) Adds a framework for the confidentiality of incident reports and investigation records while authorizing the Division to publish aggregate, de-identified information regarding incidents and trends across the behavioral health system. (8) Adds an injunctive relief pathway allowing the Department to seek a temporary restraining order in the Court of Chancery when a provider organization's activities create an imminent risk of substantial harm to clients. (9) Updates language throughout to reflect current person-centered terminology consistent with the preferences of the disability community. (10) Makes technical and conforming changes for clarity and consistency. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to create a new crime within the jurisdiction of any inferior court of this State.
Excess skin and subcutaneous tissue can create a risk of rashes or infections, make walking and movement difficult, and make everyday chores difficult. An example of treatment that removes excess skin and subcutaneous tissue is a panniculectomy. A panniculectomy is an operative procedure that contours, or changes the shape and form, of the abdomen by removing significant excess skin and subcutaneous tissue. Removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue can improve a patient’s health and quality of life. This Act requires individual health insurance plans delivered under Chapter 33 of Title 18 and group and blanket health insurance plans delivered under Chapter 35 of Title 18 to cover medically necessary removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue, including panniculectomies. This Act also requires the State employee health insurance plan and State Medicaid plans to cover medically necessary removal of excess skin and subcutaneous tissue, including panniculectomies. Medically necessary means as defined in § 3371(8) for individual health insurance plans and as defined in § 3581(8) for group and blanket health insurance plans, State employee health insurance plans, and State Medicaid plans. This Act applies to all policies, contracts, or certicates issued, renewed, modified, alterered, amended, or resissued after December 31, 2026.
The purpose of this Act is to protect medical providers in the State from out-of-state lawsuits and investigations that threaten the practice of medicine in the State. To that end this Act does the following: 1) Clarifies that physicians, physician assistants, and nurses that provide lawful healthcare services in the State do not engage in unprofessional conduct and cannot be disciplined for such services even if such services are illegal or considered to be unprofessional conduct or the unauthorized practice of medicine or nursing in another state. 2) In a civil action or proceeding, prohibits any healthcare provider from disclosing communications and records concerning healthcare services unless the patient authorizes such disclosure, with some exceptions. 3) Provides protections from civil and criminal actions that arise in another state that are based on the provision of health care services that are legal in Delaware. 4) Creates a cause of action for persons against whom a judgment was entered in another state based upon that person allegedly providing, receiving, or helping another person to provide healthcare services that are lawful in Delaware. (This does not apply to an action where no part of the acts that formed the basis for liability occurred in Delaware.) 5) Prohibits an insurer from taking an adverse action against a healthcare provider or organization for performing or providing healthcare services that are lawful in this State. 6) Prohibits any State or local agency, commission, board, or department from assisting a federal law-enforcement agency, another state’s law-enforcement agency, a private citizen, or a quasi-law-enforcement agency in relation to an investigation or inquiry concerning the lawfulness of healthcare services, if such services would be lawful as provided if they occurred entirely in the State.
This Act permits a terminally ill individual who is an adult resident of Delaware to request and self-administer medication to end the individual's life in a humane and dignified manner if both the individual's attending physician or attending advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) and a consulting physician or consulting APRN agree on the individual's diagnosis and prognosis and believe the individual has decision-making capacity, is making an informed decision, and is acting voluntarily. This Act is the same as House Bill No. 140 (152nd) with 1 technical revision to include a definition of "physician" for consistency and to clarify that a physician must be licensed in Delaware. This Act provides the following procedural safeguards: 1. No one may request medication to end life on behalf of another individual. 2. An individual cannot qualify for medication to end life under this chapter solely because of the individual's age or disability. A mental illness or mental health condition is not a qualifying condition under this Act and a mental illness or mental health condition may be the reason that an individual does not have decision-making capacity and is thus, ineligible for medication to end their life in a humane and dignified manner. 3. Both the individual's attending physician or attending APRN and a consulting physician or consulting APRN must confirm that the individual has a terminal illness and a prognosis of 6 months or less to live, has decision-making capacity, is making an informed decision, and is acting voluntarily. 4. The individual's attending physician or attending APRN must also provide specific disclosures to the individual to ensure that the individual is making an informed decision, including the presentation of all end of life options which include comfort care, palliative care, hospice care, and pain control. 5. The individual must be evaluated by a psychiatrist or a psychologist if either the attending or consulting physicians or APRNs are concerned that the individual lacks decision-making capacity. 6. The individual must complete a witnessed form requesting medication to end life and there are limitations on who can witness the signing of the form. 7. The attending physician or attending APRN must offer the individual the opportunity to rescind the request for medication to end life before writing a prescription for the medication. 8. Two waiting periods must pass before the attending physician or attending APRN may prescribe the medication to end life. 9. The attending physician or attending APRN must provide the qualified patient with instructions about the proper safe-keeping and disposal of unused medication to end life in a humane and dignified manner under applicable state or federal guidelines. The United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines include using a medication collection site or a medication disposal pouch, that deactivates and renders drugs ineffective. 10. An insurer or health-care provider may not deny or alter health-care benefits otherwise available to an individual based upon the availability of medication to end life or otherwise coerce or require a request for medication to end life as a condition of receiving care. 11. A health-care institution may prohibit a physician or APRN from prescribing medication under this Act on the health-care institution's premises and a physician or APRN may to refuse to prescribe medication under this Act. 12. A request or prescription for or the dispensing of medication under this Act does not constitute elder abuse, suicide, assisted-suicide, homicide, or euthanasia. 13. People acting in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted health-care standards under this Act have immunity, but those acting with negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct do not have criminal or civil immunity. 14. The Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) must develop rules and regulations to collect information regarding compliance with this Act and require health-care providers to file a report when medication to end life in a humane and dignified manner is prescribed or dispensed. DHSS may review samples of records maintained under this Act. The information DHSS collects must include the information necessary to assess a physician's or APRN's compliance with their responsibilities under this Act and DHSS has explicit authority to share information with the Division of Professional Regulation if DHSS suspects that a health-care provider failed to comply with the requirements under this Act. 15. DHSS must complete an annual statistical report of information collected under this Act, similar to public reports available in other states such as New Jersey where this end of life option is available. This report has the following purposes: • To assist the DHSS in its oversight responsibilities for this Act. • To assist the public in learning how well this new law is operating. 16. The Department of State may also promulgate regulations or develop forms and protocols necessary under this Act. 17. Allows the Office of Controlled Substances to provide reports of data in the prescription monitoring program to DHSS to assess compliance with this Act. This Act takes effect when final regulations required under this Act have been promulgated or January 1, 2026, whichever occurs earlier. This Act is known as "The Ron Silverio/Heather Block End of Life Options Law" in memory of Ron Silverio and Heather Block, who were passionate advocates that passed away without this option becoming available to them.
