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Minutes for HB2380 - Committee on Insurance and Pensions
Short Title
Amending healthcare stabilization fund minimum professional liability insurance coverage requirements and the membership of the board of governors of such fund.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 22, 2021
The Chairperson opened the hearing on HB2380 and asked Eileen Ma, Assistant Revisor, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, to provide an overview of the bill. (Attachment 3)
The Chairperson asked Melissa Renick, Assistant Director for Research, Kansas Legislative Research Department, to provide an overview of the fiscal note.
Rachelle Colombo, Executive Director of the Kansas Medical Society, provided testimony in support of the bill. Ms. Colombo stated that this bill was requested on behalf of the Kansas Medical Society. She went on to state that it is a complicated and technical bill that is simply designed for the purpose of insuring that the state has a continued stable medical malpractice environment. She also said that the bill includes necessary changes to the options that are allowed, statutorily limited, so that the state is more attractive to re-insurers. At this time, she turned over part of her testimony time to Jerry Slaughter, the former Executive Director of the Kansas Medical Society and current advisor, to continue with their agency's testimony in support of the bill. Mr. Slaughter presented a significant history of the healthcare stabilization fund; how it came about and how it has functioned for the last 40 years. He outlined that the fund serves two very important purposes - providing an assured source of liability insurance for health care providers, and ensuring that there is a source of recovery for patients who are injured as a result of medical malpractice. He stressed that this system has worked exceedingly well for over four decades and it has provided tremendous stability and benefit to patients, health care providers and the state of Kansas. Mr. Slaughter responded to Committee questions. Ms. Colombo concluded that over the past two years, the Kansas Medical Society has worked closely with all of the stakeholders in drafting this bill and they are unaware of any opposition to it, and urged the Committee to support the bill. (Attachment 4)
Chairperson Johnson asked Eileen Ma, Assistant Revisor with the Office of Revisor of Statutes, to provide an overview of the bill and the proposed balloon amendment. The Revisor and Rachelle Colombo, Executive Director, Kansas Medical Society, responded to Committee questions.
Written testimony in support of the bill was submitted by:
Tara Mays, Kansas Hospital Association (Attachment 5)
Written testimony neutral to the bill was submitted by:
Clark Shultz, Executive Director of the Health Care Stabilization Fund (Attachment 6)
After asking if there were any other conferees and seeing none, Chairperson Johnson closed the hearing on HB2380.
