State legislation: Missouri takes the autism insurance bills down to the wire as General Assembly eyes May 14, 2010 adjournment; both insurance bills now contain language for licensing of Behavior Analysts

Although Missouri was one of the first state legislatures to forward autism insurance legislation in this session, with the support of Governor Jay Nixon and the stated support of the Speaker of the Missouri House - as a Friday, May 14, 2010 adjournment for the General Assembly approaches it may come down to the wire whether one of the bills passes. One news story reported that the Senate President Pro Tem was optimistic that an autism insurance bills would pass before the week ends.


The bill with potentially the highest probability of passage is,
the Senate Committee Substitute for HB 1311 & 1341, which was listed on the House Calendar under the heading of

BILLS CARRYING REQUEST MESSAGES
SCS HCS HB 1311 & 1341, (request Senate recede/grant conference) -- Handler: Scharnhorst (093)
          Title:AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER COVERAGE

In lay terms, the House refuses to concur with the passed Senate version and requests that the Senate recede from that version or, failing to do so, to grant the House a conference. **As of 6:00PM PDT, May 10, 2010 the Senate refused to recede and a Conference has been granted.**

The related,

Senate bill, SS/SB 618 Requires health carriers to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders under certain conditions

was passed on March 18, 2010 in the Senate and sent to the House where it received relatively little action until the end of April. At the current time, SS/SB 618 has been reported with a Do Pass with
House Committee Substitute,  but is not showing on the House Calendar.

One of the clauses of the House Committee Substitute for SS/SB 618 was to change the reimbursement condition in the perfected Senate version from reimbursement for Board Certified Behavior Analysts to reimbursement for licensed practitioners and to include language specifying establishment of a Board and other relevant details.

At this point, both SS/S 618 and HB 1311& 1341 both have clauses for the,

Establishment of the Behavior Analyst Advisory Board under the State Committee of Psychologists within the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration to establish licensure and registration requirements for behavior analysts, assistance behavior analysts, and line therapists who provide applied behavior analysis therapies for children with autism spectrum disorders. The board shall consist of the following 7 members:

1) 3 licensed behavior analysts;
2) 1 licensed behavior analyst holding a doctoral degree;
3) 1 licensed assistant behavior analyst;
4) 1 professional member of the committee; and
5) 1 public member., 

and defines function, duties and conditions of licensing.

As stated in the summary of the House Committee Substitute sumamary, "the licensing provisions are similar to those contained in the perfected version of HB 1311 and 1341 (2010)."

These clauses mirror the language of the now defunct SB 1030, which was a standalone licensing bill.

For more information
Missouri General Assembly

Missouri Association for Behavior Analysis/MOABA

Autism Votes - Missouri


Tax credits among battles in Legislature’s final week
BY TONY MESSENGER
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/10/2010

Past posts

Friday, April 9, 2010
State legislation: Missouri - Compromise requested on SS/SB 618 autism insurance bill; licensing highlighted as pivotal issue


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