On May 13, the state Assembly voted overwhelmingly – 96 to 1 – to approve Assembly Bill 23, a bill to create a state palliative care council.  This follows the Assembly Health Committee’s 14-1 vote on March 13 to advance this bill to the full Assembly.  WiHPCA has worked closely with the authors of this legislation – state Representative Patrick Snyder (R-Weston) and state Senator Jesse James (R-Thorp) – to both draft and advance this legislation.

This bill would establish a council of individuals with palliative care and other medical expertise to consult and advise the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) on this type of specialized medical care with the intent of increasing awareness and utilization of palliative care throughout Wisconsin. Also, this legislation would require DHS to create a statewide palliative care consumer and professional information and education program, as this type of specialized care is often misunderstood. 

Now, Assembly Bill 23 has been referred to the state Senate.  It’s also important to note that the Senate Health Committee voted unanimously – 5 to 0 – on March 14 to recommend approval of the Senate companion bill – Senate Bill 39 – to the full Senate for consideration. 

WiHPCA’s government relations team continues to aggressively lobby the Legislature to continue to move this legislation through the legislative process. 

On May 6, the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance sent a memo to their members detailing all of the budget items included in Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ Fiscal Year 2025-2027 budget request that they intend to remove from further consideration by the committee.  The committee took this up as one vote at their first executive session addressing the FY2025-2027 budget, which occurred on Thursday, May 8 in Madison. 

As Republicans hold a 12-4 majority on this committee, the committee voted to remove these budget items.  However, it is important to note that even if certain budget items from the Governor’s budget request remained in the budget bill after this vote, a majority of committee members would still need to vote to approve including those budget items in the committee’s version of the budget bill.  Those votes will occur at committee meetings on various dates in the future, as the committee considers different state agency budget items.  In addition, the Joint Committee on Finance can offer their own budget amendments to different state agencies.   

The committee removed over 600 budget items from Governor Evers’ budget request, including the following budget items likely of interest to WiAHC members:

Office of the Commissioner of Insurance

• Exemptions from Prior Authorization Requirements
• Authorize the Insurance Commissioner to provide, by administrative rule, that any health benefit plan or self-insured health plan that uses a prior authorization process shall exempt health care providers from obtaining prior authorizations for a health care item or service for a period of time established by the Commissioner if, in the most recent evaluation period, the health benefit plan or self-insured health plan has approved or would have approved a proportion of prior authorization requests submitted by the health care provider for the health care item or service that is not less than a benchmark threshold specified by the Commissioner.

• Prior Authorization Restrictions and Disclosure Requirements
• Specify that the clinical review criteria used by any health care plan for any prior authorization requirement or restriction must: (a) be based on nationally recognized, generally accepted standards except where provided by law; (b) be developed in accordance with the current standards of a national medical accreditation entity; (c) ensure quality of care and access to needed health care services; (d) be evidence-based; (e) be sufficiently flexible to allow deviations from current standards when justified; and (f) be evaluated and updated when necessary and no less frequently than once every year.

According to a recent statewide survey, the state Department of Health Services (DHS) announced that there has been a drop in the percentage of tobacco and vaping products that were sold by tobacco and vape retailers to underage customers in 2024.  Specifically, the percentage decreased from 13.6% in 2023 to 11.8% in 2024. 

For more information, please visit the state DHS website.

In mid-May, the Governor’s Interagency Council on Mental Health announced that it is seeking public input to help craft a statewide action plan to address mental health challenges in our state.  This plan will ultimately include recommendations regarding improving access to mental health care and expanding work on prevention. This survey may be accessed here and will be available until June 30, 2025. 

The state Department of Health Services (DHS) will hold its 2025 Opioids, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit from May 6-8, 2025, at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.  There will also be a virtual option.  According to the DHS website, this “…is an annual event that highlights prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery strategies related to opioids, stimulants, and trauma. All people with an interest in building healthy communities are invited to attend.” 

Please note that attendees must register by May 6, 2025.  To register, and for more information, please visit the DHS website. 

The state Department of Health Services (DHS) recently announced that it is seeking current Medicaid beneficiaries, or their caregivers, to join a state Medicaid Member Experience Council.  In addition, they are seeking former Medicaid beneficiaries who have received such benefits within the last two years, or their caregivers.  The intent is to seek feedback from those Wisconsinites who know this program the best in order to improve it. 

The deadline to apply is May 12.  For more information, or to apply, please visit the DHS website.

On March 28, Governor Tony Evers signed Senate Bill 68 into law, which extends the electronic Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (ePDMP).  This program helps combat substance misuse.  In particular, this law extends the requirement for prescribers to undertake an ePDMP review prior to providing a prescription to a patient until April 1, 2030.  This new law is 2025 Wisconsin Act 5.

WiAHC has decided to support legislation that would allow a health care provider who is credentialed in another state to provide medical care to patients in Wisconsin via telehealth by registering with the state Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS).  In the state Senate, this has been introduced as Senate Bill 214.  The Assembly companion bill has not yet been introduced. 

In order to qualify, an out-of-state health care provider would need to meet several criteria, including having a clean disciplinary record in the state in which the provider is credentialed and holding malpractice liability insurance, if appropriate.  Also, under the bill, the DSPS would publish a list of out-of-state health care providers who are registered to provide telehealth services in the state. 

Supreme Court Race

Dane County Judge Susan Crawford prevailed decisively over Waukesha County Judge and former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel.  With 99% of votes counted, the results for this non-partisan race are as follows:

• Susan Crawford:              55.0%
• Brad Schimel:                   45.0%

Key Points in this Race

• The statewide voter turnout in this particular race is around 50% of the state’s voting age population, which is a record.  The previous record for statewide turnout during a spring state Supreme Court race was in 2023, when 39% of Wisconsin’s voting age residents turned out to vote.

• Crawford’s win will maintain the 4-3 liberal majority on the court, which began after Justice Janet Protasiewicz won her state Supreme Court race in the spring of 2023. Crawford will begin her term on the court on August 1, 2025, and serves a 10-year term. 

• Over $104 million was estimated to be spent by both campaigns and allied groups in this race – which has turned out to be the most expensive state Supreme Court election in our nation’s history. 
• This race featured a high level of spending from very wealthy individuals in support of each candidate, including Elon Musk in support of Schimel and Democratic Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker in support of Crawford. 
• President Donald Trump endorsed Schimel in this race. 
• This race was generally viewed on the national level as a litmus test on Donald Trump’s second term as President. 

State Superintendent of Schools Race

Incumbent Jill Underly prevailed over educational consultant Brittany Kinser in a race that did not get the same level of attention as the state Supreme Court race.  With 99% of votes counted, the results for this non-partisan race are as follows:

• Jill Underly:                       52.9%
• Brittany Kinser:                47.1%   

Key Points in this Race

• While this race is also technically non-partisan, the state Democratic party endorsed Underly, and the state Republican party endorsed Kinser.  Both state party organizations contributed a significant amount of funding to each respective campaign. 
• Historically, the candidate with the endorsement of the state’s teachers’ union has won this race.  In this race, the union endorsed Underly. 
• In this race, Underly faced some controversy when she changed the state’s K-12 testing standards. Kinser also faced controversy, as she let her state educator’s license lapse. 

Statewide Constitutional Referendum

There was also one statewide referendum question on the April 1 ballot intended to amend the state constitution with respect to voter identification.  The following language was included on the April 1 ballot:

“Shall section 1m of article III of the constitution be created to require that voters present valid photographic identification verifying their identity in order to vote in any election, subject to exceptions which may be established by law?"

With 99% of votes counted, the results for this referendum are as follows:

• YES:       62.8%
• NO:        37.2%

 

Key Points on this Referendum

• Currently, state law requires voters to present photo identification when voting.  However, Legislators who proposed this referendum championed this effort due to concerns that either the state Supreme Court could overturn this law or that it could be rescinded during a future legislative session with a Democratic majority. 

• Proponents of this constitutional amendment argue that voter identification should be required to increase confidence in elections and guard against fraud.

Opponents of this constitutional amendment argue that this will make it harder for Wisconsinites without photo identification to vote, including elderly individuals and those who are disabled. 

WiAHC has formally agreed to support Assembly Bill 23 and Senate Bill 39, companion bills that would create a state Palliative Care Council to advise the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and create a palliative care consumer and professional information and education program.  The lead author of Assembly Bill 23 is State Representative Patrick Snyder (R-Wausau) and the lead author of Senate Bill 39 is state Senator Jesse James (R-Thorp).  The primary intent of this legislation is to improve awareness of and access to palliative care, as there are not enough health care providers who specialize in palliative care in Wisconsin.  Furthermore, there is a shortage of information on palliative care for practicing health care providers, patients, and their loved ones.