Bill > HB241

This bill mandates that insurance plans, both individual and group, must cover a wider range of pain management services as alternatives to opioid treatments, including behavioral health interventions like pain self-management training and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), manual treatments such as chiropractic and massage therapy, movement therapies, and acupuncture. These plans will be required to provide at least 12 visits for each category of these services and ensure coordination among providers for integrated, multi-modal care. Insurers must develop and submit a pain management services plan to the insurance commissioner for approval and make detailed descriptions of covered services publicly available. Additionally, insurers must provide educational materials on pain management to policyholders and providers, and they cannot impose stricter utilization controls, such as prior authorization or step therapy requirements, on clinically appropriate non-opioid therapies than they do for opioid drugs. This legislation aims to increase access to evidence-based, non-opioid pain management options and applies to health service corporations and health maintenance organizations as well, with an effective date of July 1, 2025.

Budget and Finance, Business and Industry, Health and Social Services

https://gc.nh.gov/bill_Status/billinfo.aspx?id=365&inflect=2