Gov. Matt Meyer signs 11 public health bills into law, including the Delaware Pre-Authorization Reform Act of 2025.
Senate Bill 12, dubbed the Pre-Authorization Reform Act, speeds up and standardizes health insurance prior authorizations, which is when a healthcare provider must obtain advance approval from a health plan before providing specific care to a patient.
It will make the process more efficient in a variety of ways, like ensuring clinical criteria used to conduct utilization reviews for a healthcare service will apply only upon re-authorization of the service, requiring an insurance holder be notified at least six months prior to any changes to utilization review terms and requiring a notification of receipt be issued within 24 hours of an electronically submitted request for pre-authorization for urgent healthcare services.
“This legislation helps remove red tape from residents' healthcare experiences and ensures that healthcare providers can focus on patients instead of paperwork," Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro said during the bill's signing Monday.
The bill's sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark) says he is already working on a second bill to further streamline the pre-authorization process.
"SB 12 is a very serious bill that is a game changer for our doctors, our precious doctors, who are deciding more often than not to leave the profession because of the red tape that they encounter dealing with pre-authorizations," State Rep. Krista Griffith (D-Fairfax) added.
The act takes effect Jan. 1 2027.
Gov. Meyer also signed Senate Bill 109, which enters Delaware into the Social Work Licensure Compact.
Social workers will now have the ability to obtain a multi-state license among the member states.
At least 24 states have already joined the compact, while 18 have pending legislation to enter it, including Maryland and Pennsylvania.
With enough participating states, it’s anticipated the applications for multi-state licensure could start later this year.
State Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D-Wilmington), the bill’s sponsor and a social worker himself, says the compact will improve workforce mobility and access to mental health services.
“This interstate compact allows us the opportunity to provide the service that we provide, to truly give the life-giving supports that individuals are in need of, so this bill is very important," he said.
Under House Bill 169, the Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission (POSDC) — which is in charge of handing out legal settlement funds to entities making an effort to help abate the opioid crisis — will no longer be under the authority of the Behavioral Health Consortium when it comes to its granting and contracting processes.
The POSDC will no longer be co-chaired by Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Director Joanna Champney and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings.
Director Champney will now serve as the sole chair of the commission, but the bill allows for a vice chair to be elected from among POSDC members.
House Bill 118 will allow for Exceptional Care for Children (ECC) to continue receiving an exemption from the nursing facility quality assessment.
The change is intended to be a technical clean-up bill to continue ECC's exemption once the Bridge Unit is open, which will allow ECC to help a small number of individuals, who turn 21 while in ECC's care, transition from a pediatric setting to an adult setting.
"This facility is designed to accommodate 22 additional individuals, featuring advanced medical technologies, speciality clinics and dynamic spaces for music, art, family engagement and outdoor exploration," the bill's sponsor State Rep. Cyndi Romer (D-Newark) said. "HB 118 ensures that when children in ECC's care turn 21 years of age, they can transition smoothly into the Bridge Unit without losing critical support.
ECC Executive Director John White says the center hope to have the Bridge Unit open by the winter of 2026.
House Bill 148 updates the Board of Nursing’s enabling act to allow the Board to issue confidential letters of concern to licensees who have acted in manner warranting concern but have not violated the board’s statute or regulations.
House Bill 156 updates the Healthcare-Associated Infections Disclosure Act to align with current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) standards and terminology to ensure hospitals and the state are using the same up-to-date definitions and reporting practices.
House Bill 157 repeals the Hearing Aid Loan Bank Program, as the program is no longer operational.
The program was created for the purpose of lending hearing aids on a temporary basis to children under three years old, but the need for the Hearing Aid Loan Bank Program has steadily decreased over time and the program is now obsolete. As a result, the Division of Public Health no longer stocks the Hearing Aid Loan Bank.
House Bill 158 renames the Public Health Emergency Planning Commission the Public Health Emergency Planning Council and directs the council to review the Public Health Emergency Operations Coordination Plan every 2 years.
The body will continue in its advisory capacity to the governor whenever a public health emergency is declared, and it must meet within 30 days of the declaration of a state of emergency due to a public health emergency.
House Bill 173 requires health care employers to implement a smoke evacuation system for surgical procedures that generate surgical smoke.
Delaware is the only state in the nation that does not allow dental hygienists to administer local anesthesia, and by no later than Jan. 1, 2026, Senate Bill 131 will change that.
The bill expands dental hygienists’ scope of practice to allow them to administer local anesthesia under the direct supervision of a licensed dentist, which lawmakers hope will take some of the burden off the state’s limited supply of dentists.
Finally, Senate Joint Resolution 7 directs the State Employees Benefits Committee (SEBC) to utilize specific strategies and policies when interacting and contracting with Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) in order to achieve lower cost pharmaceutical drug benefit plans for the state.
“No one should have to choose between paying for medication or paying their bill,” State Sen. Ray Seigfried (D-North Brandywine), primary sponsor of SJR 7, said in a statement. “State employees and retirees have dedicated their careers to serving Delaware, and Delaware should be supporting them in return. I am thankful to Gov. Meyer and my colleagues in the House and Senate for believing in this legislation and helping me bring lower-cost pharmaceuticals to Delawareans.”
