Bill > S528

This bill enacts several revisions to health and human services statutes, including requiring the University of North Carolina School of Medicine's Area Health Education Centers (NC AHEC) to consult with various medical and nursing organizations to develop and disseminate evidence-based information on sudden unexpected death in epilepsy to healthcare practitioners, with a report due by September 1, 2026. It also establishes a pilot program managed by the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to provide electroencephalogram combined Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment (eTMS), a treatment where magnetic stimulation pulses are tuned to a patient's physiology, to veterans, first responders, and their immediate family members for conditions like substance use disorders, mental illness, and traumatic brain injuries, with a report on outcomes due by September 15, 2027. Additionally, the bill mandates that the Commission for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services update rules for outpatient opioid treatment programs (OTPs) to better align with federal regulations, making them more patient-centered and flexible, with proposed rule changes to be published by January 1, 2027. Furthermore, all schools, including local public schools, charter schools, regional schools, laboratory schools, private church schools, and qualified nonpublic schools, will be required to display the phone numbers for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (988) and the NC Peer Warmline (855-733-7762) on student IDs for grades six through 12, school websites, electronic devices, and various other documents, starting with the 2026-2027 school year. Finally, the bill requires health benefit plans in the state to cover prosthetic and orthotic devices, including custom ones, to the same extent as Medicare Part B, without arbitrary limitations on replacement or continuous use, and mandates that hospitals and ambulatory surgical facilities implement policies requiring the use of surgical smoke evacuation systems during procedures likely to generate surgical smoke, with reporting on prosthetic and orthotic device claims due by February 1, 2029.