Member Login
Search

Medicare & Medicaid Alerts

08-20-2013
Amerigroup Community Care named Georgia’s new Foster Care CMO

The Department of Community Health (DCH) will transition approximately 27,000 children in foster care or receiving adoption assistance, as well as select youth in the juvenile justice system, to a single care management organization (CMO) for their health care coverage in Georgia Families. They believe moving these populations to a designated CMO will result in improved care coordination, continuity of care and better health outcomes.

DCH has chosen Amerigroup Community Care as the CMO selected to provide services for members in foster care, adoption assistance and the juvenile justice system. The transition will be effective on January 1, 2014. Within the next few weeks, DCH will submit a State Plan Amendment to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for inclusion of these members in Georgia Families.

5-10-2013
Medicaid Recoupment
by Kelly J. Ball
Many of us received a Medicaid recoupment earlier this week and have been worried about the situation.  I reached out to Dr. Janice Carson, who is in charge of the CIS program, and received the following response.  Hopefully, the process will continue and the final result will be accurate.  Thanks, Kelly

The providers are seeing evidence of the impacted claims from the reprocessing that have been voided in order to run them through the reprocessing. This is the first stage of the process. These claims will now go back through the system to adjudicate correctly. Once this occurs, we will review the results to determine if additional payments need to be made to the providers or if the providers received over-payments initially. We will be reviewing the results of the claims going back through the system for the reprocessing within the next couple of weeks. We will work on an updated banner message to allay the providers’ concerns about this process. There was a previous banner message posted in January 2013 about this process.

4-26-13
Wellcare/TNGA Update
Concerns regarding transition to Therapy Network of Georgia (TNGA): For several years, children with disabilities, their parents, and providers of pediatric physical therapy (PT), speech therapy, and occupational therapy (OT) have struggled with changes in the Medicaid Children's Intervention Services (CIS) in large part related to the Department of Community Health’s (DCH) contracting with three care management organizations. Problems include denial and delay in services to which patients are entitled and need for their development.

Despite the passage of legislation and ongoing dialogue between the the Georgia Therapy Trialliance (consisting of pediatric OTs, PTs, and Speech-Language Pathologists) the three CMOs (WellCare, PeachState, and Amerigroup) and DCH, lingering problems persist and new issues arise. These issues became painfully evident, and reached a culmination in early 2013, when a company with which one of the CMOs subcontracted to provide children’s therapy services experienced financial difficulty and eventually declared bankruptcy.

Now in the wake of this situation, WellCare, which is the CMO with which pediatric therapists have experienced the most success in working to assure the best possible outcomes for children with disabilities, has decided to subcontract with the Therapy Network of Georgia (TNGA). At WellCare's suggestion, the Trialliance met with TNGA. Based upon Trialliance discussions with TNGA, therapists’ experience with its related company in Florida, and a close look at sample practice data and how the TNGA payment system will effect different populations, pediatric PTs, OTs, and Speech-Language Pathologists have numerous and significant concerns with the proposed new program which WellCare intends to implement July 1, 2013. These concerns are described below:

1. The TNGA payment system is complicated relying on patient cancellation rates, dropout rates and diagnosis. These variables are difficult for providers to account for and TNGA has not been transparent with providers in their contract about the expected visit count necessary to maintain the providers historical visit rate. Without this knowledge the provider is left to simply look at the different case rates which seem to be the only guarantee in this payment system and clearly indicate either a rate or service cut.

2. The TNGA payment system appears to be set up to award the PT or OT treating patients with less complicated diagnosis requiring average treatment counts around 6.5 visits or less per patient. SLPs, PTs and OTs that serve the developmentally delayed population which typically averages 10-11 visits per episode of care, will take a 35-45% cut on their visit rates.

3. Since the General Assembly clearly indicated its desire not to reduce Medicaid provider rates in its passage of the FY 2014 State Budget, this cut is inconsistent with legislative intent.

4. Providers cannot afford this kind of rate cut and many will refuse to sign the TNGA contract. Those that do sign will realize quickly that treating children with a developmental diagnosis increases their average visit/patient count which will in turn effect their rate per visit for all their Wellcare patients. One neurologically impaired patient requiring 1x/week therapy for 6 months or more can increase an average visit count for an individual provider enough to cut his/her average rate per visit by 58%. Realizing this rate cut, providers will be forced to stop taking WellCare patients or certain patient populations requiring more involved treatment plans. Although the Trialliance does not provide legal advice or specific recommendations to individual therapists, it has been strongly advised that providers obtain all information regarding this new type of payment system before making a decision about whether to sign a contract with TNGA.

5 It is likely that WellCare will be unable to continue with a pediatric therapy provider network to meet the needs of children with disabilities, thus, leaving children with special needs unable to receive the services that are required to correct or ameliorate their conditions.

6. Since WellCare is the largest provider in the CMO network, this change to TNGA is going to reduce accessibility to services and greatly impact the ability to retain providers including in Georgia’s early intervention (Babies Can’t Wait or BCW) program and risk burdening an already financially exshausted program.

It is our collective opinion as the Georgia Therapy Trialliance that the TNGA payment system, as it stands, would reduce access to providers serving Georgia’s most vulnerable population and would cut therapy rates of providers serving this population and Wellcare should not be permitted to move forward with implementation July 1, 2013. These changes by Wellcare along with the recent TRS bankruptcy highlight the need for increased oversight by the Department of Community Health.

4-5-2013
Trialliance Update
The Trialliance held a meeting with Wellcare on April 5, 2013, to discuss the transition to their new therapy vendor – Therapy Network of Georgia. The Trialliance continues to have numerous concerns regarding this transition and are waiting to receive additional information/data from TNGA.  We will keep providers updated as we receive additional information.  We urge providers to get all information before making a decision about whether to sign or reject the HNGA contract. (Click here for the Meeting Notes) 

3-15-2013
Peach State News
The Trialliance has been receiving questions from therapy providers regarding the transition from TRS to Peach State.  We have contacted Peach State to receive some clarification on these questions and the answers are provided below:

     1.     Therapists should complete the spreadsheet provided by Peach State including all claims up to February 1, 2013 that are valid claims that were not included on the initial satisfaction agreement provided.  Therapists must also file these claims electronically or on paper according to the directions provided by Peach State with the amendment. These claims will be manually matched with the spreadsheet, reviewed and valid claims will be paid manually by Peach State.  Providers that received payments that were reversed by TRS should include those claims on the spreadsheet and should file them with Peach State.

     2.     Peach State is reviewing claims filed in February and pulling them to make sure they pay correctly at 100%. Some claims are being missed and they are running reports to catch these, no action is needed on the providers end, they will reprocess these claims and pay them correctly.

     3.     Peach State is aware there were some issues with credentialing and have made exceptions to get providers loaded into their system so the providers can bill and continue accepting patients.  Any providers initially told the credentialing or loading would take time should contact Peach State again.

     4.     Peach State has a new authorization system that looks at the details of an authorization when paying claims.  It can match the provider specialty (OT, PT or speech) with the number of visits and the PA number and deduct the visits correctly so when providers are given the same PA number for multiple therapy services they do not feel there will be a problem. Peach State is monitoring these claims to make sure the system is working correctly.

     5.     The average turnaround time for PA’s at this point is 6-8 days so providers should contact Peach State if they have any PA’s submitted initially in February that are not already approved or denied.

     6.     There was some initial confusion with companies that had similar names and providers may have received PA’s for clients that were not theirs. Those PA’s should be returned to Peach State.

3-15-2013
Wellcare News
Wellcare requested a meeting with the Trialliance which was held in February. During this meeting Wellcare announced that they will be hiring a vendor to manage their therapy department. In addition, Wellcare indicated that it would be moving to an episode of care payment system instead of continuing the current fee-for-service model. This change is expected to take place by July 1, 2013. The Trialliance will be meeting with Wellcare and the new vendor April 5th to get more information about this change. Providers are asked to submit any questions they may have to Healthcare Chair Jessica Niederkorn at [email protected] so that they may be discussed at the meeting.

3-2-2013
Peach State Update
The Georgia Therapy Trialliance is pleased to announce that after several weeks of discussions with Peach State we have come to an agreement to help smooth the transition from Therapy Review Systems (TRS) to Peach State.  Providers can expect to receive an addendum to the initial satisfaction agreements that were sent in January.  Providers will need to sign and return both the initial satisfaction agreement and the addendum in order to take advantage of this opportunity. Providers will receive specific directions on how to submit claims when they receive their addendum from Peach State.  Make sure you pay special attention to deadlines in the addendum and directions to ensure resolution of payments. Thank you for your patience as we have worked through this process.   A copy of the addendum can be viewed by clicking here.      

2-28-2013
Peach State Update
The Trialliance will be signing a final resolution with Peach State tomorrow. They will be sending an amendment to the initial satisfaction agreement to providers. Providers will have until March 15 to sign and return if interested. The amendment will cover claims not listed under the initial satisfaction agreement sent to providers.

2- 25-2013
Peach State Update
The Trialliance continues to work with Peach State to negotiate a transition deal for therapy providers.  Due to Therapy Review Systems declaring bankruptcy, providers are feeling concerned about getting paid for services not covered in the initial satisfaction agreement sent to providers.   We will continue to work through this transition with Peach State in the hopes of amending the initial satisfaction agreements.

2-22-2013
Peach State News
The Trialliance met this afternoon to continue discussions with Peach State regarding the transition from TRS to Peach State, payments, and prior authorizations. Based on our conversation this afternoon Peach State has agreed to delay the deadline for providers to sign the satisfaction agreement until March 4, 2013. We will be talking to them again on Monday to continue discussions to resolve the transition questions and hope to have more detailed information to you all early next week.

2-21-2013
Peach State Update
Just a quick update to let you know that thanks to Representative John Carson we are back in negotiations with Peach State and things are looking promising. We hope to have something in writing to put out to members today. Feel free to pass along the info we are sharing about Peach State to others who may need it. Also we will be starting a new Healthcare listserve soon. Look for info in the next e-news.

2-18-2013
Meeting between Peach State and the Georgia Therapy Trialliance
The Triallliance met with the Peachstate COO, CEO, Vice President of Government Affairs, Vice President of Medical Management, Vice President of Compliance and others on February 18, 2013 in hopes of clarifying information regarding the transition from TRS to Peach State and resolving financial debt to providers. During the meeting the Trialliance expressed concerns regarding:

  1. confusing communication by Peach State regarding the transitioning of TRS prior authorizations
  2. bounced checks from TRS to providers
  3. unpaid claims by TRS/Peach State for services already rendered
  4. the satisfaction agreement
  5. lack of continuity of care
  6. lack of access to therapy for Peach State members due to the confusion and problems
  7. TRS bankruptcy

The following information was obtained:

  1. The Trialliance indicated that there was much confusion regarding the dates of service dating Feb 1-Feb 8 because providers took the Peach State memo to mean that providers who had authorizations from TRS that covered the time period of Feb 1-Feb 8 would be paid for their services during that time. However, Peach State indicated that their meaning was that only authorizations requested and obtained from TRS during the week of Feb 1-Feb 8 would automatically be transferred to Peach State and paid. Therefore, providers need to submit new authorizations for all Peach State patients. Peach State will pay for services they authorize during the time period listed on each individual Peach State authorization. The Peach State authorization dates vary and they indicated that they are handling urgent Prior Authorizations (PA’s) first. Most PA’s currently being received from Peach State have start dates ranging from Feb 1 – today. Peach State indicated they have hired 6 additional staff to get through the large quantity of PA requests. They currently have approximately 500 PA’s to process.
  2. The Trialliance questioned whether Peach State will pay providers for TRS bounced checks. They indicated they will not and are not liable for TRS debt.
  3. The Trialliance asked why Peach State was not covering the unpaid claims to providers as it appears in their contract with DCH that they are obligated to cover these services. They indicated that TRS was required to be bonded and licensed. However, during the transition process they found out that TRS had let their bonding expire. Peach State expressed that TRS is liable and not Peach State. The lobbyists for each association expressed disagreement with this statement and asked that Peach State pay providers in full what they are owed.
  4. The Trialliance discussed that the Satisfaction Agreements submitted to providers by Peach State did not cover many services that were preauthorized by TRS and have already been provided to Peach State members. It was pointed out that only clean claims were included and only items billed up to the date of the agreement were included. Therefore, there is a gap between the last day the provider billed prior to this agreement and the date that Peach State grants a new PA to the provider. In addition, there seems to be no way to resolve unclean/disputed claims. We asked that Peach State offer additional satisfaction agreements to providers to cover the missing claims.
  5. We discussed the issue with Peach State that they are not honoring the 30 day continuity of care guidelines typically followed when a child switches from one CMO to another or from straight Medicaid to a CMO. Instead, providers have stopped services with many Peach State members as it is unclear whether they will be able to get paid.   
  6. We discussed current lack of access to therapy services for Peach State members. Peach State indicated that they are following the 30 day transition process which is required of them but did not comment on this lack of service for members. They stated that they expected TRS to continue to pay for services through Feb 28th and did not know that they would be declaring bankruptcy when this initially started. They reported that they have already paid TRS their capitated rate to cover services through February 28th.
  7. The Trialliance asked for clarification that the TRS company that filed bankruptcy was indeed the same TRS company that contracted providers as the name was slightly different. It was indicated that the TRS Parent company was the one that filed bankruptcy and that the branch that housed the therapy contracts would fall under this bankruptcy.

As a result of this meeting Peach State is to discuss and get back to the Trialliance in the next few days regarding:

  1. The confusing communication regarding the dates of service from Feb 1-8.
  2. The large financial impact this lack of payment is having on providers in rural areas including middle and southwest Georgia. These providers have been impacted greatly because Peach State is a major CMO in those areas and if these providers no longer accept Peach State or no longer provide private therapy there will be no access to services for Peach State members.
  3. The Trialliance will submit alternate language for the satisfaction agreement to assure TRS is not absolved of responsibility
  4. Peach State will look into ways to alleviate the debt providers have experienced

Healthcare News
In an effort to get critical healthcare news to the members who need it without bombarding those who don’t we will be staring a Healthcare Listserve. To sign up you can login to the website, go under my features, and select the Healthcare Listserve to join. We will be getting out information regarding the Peachstate/TRS transition to our members through this Healthcare Listserve over the next few weeks so be sure to join.

1-30-2013
Peach State Announcement
Peach State will no longer be contracting with TRS beginning March 1, 2013. Peach State will be sending a letter to providers to explain the transition process very shortly. Our understanding is that providers should continue to request PA’s through TRS through Jan 31st and should continue to bill TRS through Feb 28th. However, we are waiting on the letter to confirm these details. Questions can be directed to Jessica Niederkorn, Healthcare Chair, at [email protected].

Medicaid News
The Trialliance met with Dr. Jerry Dubberly, Dr. Janice Carson, and a representative from Commissioner David Cook’s office to discuss several ongoing Medicaid therapy issues.  Below is a summary of the most pressing issues and responses received:  Additional suggestions were also offered in regard to CMO contracts/RFP documents but are not included in this document.   The Medicaid staff asked us for several examples of problem situations which we need to collect from our providers in order to address and correct the problems.

  1. Duplication of service denials – The Trialliance discussed concerns that many children who receive therapy services through an IEP are being denied private therapy due to “duplication of services.”   Medicaid representatives agreed that the receipt of therapy services in the school system does not automatically indicate a duplication of services under EPSDT regulations.  Dr. Dubberly would like us to provide at least 10 examples of cases where children were denied services due to “duplication” that the provider feels are not a duplication of school goals/services. Please send your examples to [email protected]

  2. Late payment to providers – The Trialliance discussed the frequency of late payments for provider claims.  Dr. Dubberly requested at least 10 examples where the CMO’s have paid the provider late – even if they were paid with interest.  With numerous examples he will be able to investigate this pattern of late payments and address the issue.  Please send examples to [email protected].

  3. NCCI edits – We discussed concerns that Georgia appears to be out of compliance with federal policy that allows the use of modifiers when processing claims (e.g., speech-language therapy and AAC therapy can be billed together with the use of a modifier in federal regs).  Medicaid indicated that they will recognize the 59 modifier and are in the process of building the 59 modifier into the system.  They did not give a specific timeline as to when the system would be ready to accept this modifier.  See Banner Message for more detailed information.

  4. Centralized credentialing of providers – Beginning February 1st providers can submit a request for new providers to be credentialed by Medicaid and all 3 CMO’s through the use of one web portal.  Providers will no longer have to submit a separate credentialing application to each CMO.  The CMO’s will have 120 days to process the applications from the day they are submitted to the web portal.   The CMO’s are not allowed by their regulations to retro-enroll providers.
  5. Centralized web portal for PA’s – Medicaid has formed a workgroup with the CMO’s to develop a centralized web portal where all PA”s will be submitted.  Each CMO would still approve/deny their individual PA’s.  Medicaid expects a June implementation date for inpatient and outpatient hospital PA’s and will gradually move forward with accepting all PA’s.

  6. Requirement that Approval for therapy services be for a six-month period when prescribed as medically necessary – We expressed concerns that the CMO’s are not following the intent of Senate Bill 507 which was passed several years ago.  Dr. Dubberly disagreed that the CMO’s are out of compliance with the law as the wording in the law status “up to six months” instead of “for six months.”

  7. Family of Codes – Requested to use family of codes for PA’s so that adjustments to therapy can be made as needed.  Medicaid did not express an opinion on this issue.

  8. Recoupment from June 2011 – Trialliance expressed concerns that the funds taken in mistake have not been returned.  Dr. Carson reported that they have created the logic and have completed testing on the pilot program that is expected to reprocess and fix this claims.  However, she made a point that some providers expecting to get money back will not get it back if the claim was paid in error.

  9. Prior Authorization Process - Requested that the CMO’s allow commencement of PA process upon receipt of physician’s signature on prescription without waiting for signed Plan of Care.  No response received from Medicaid.

  10. Babies Can’t Wait - We requested that the Medicaid Dept work with the BCW office at the Department of Public Health to clarify rules/guidelines for providers.  We suggested that the Trialliance meet with BCW staff and the Medicaid staff to resolve ongoing issues. The Medicaid staff agreed to this idea.

  11. Some discussion was held regarding the implementation of a case management program as part of the ABD program. No specifics were provided.

One of the current CMO’s is expected to take over the foster care program beginning in January 2014.  An RFP will be presented in January.

 NCCI edits – Banner Message – December 2012
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has directed all State Medicaid agencies to implement the National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI) as policy in support of Section 6507 of the Patient Affordable Care Act of March 23, 2010.

As part of the CMS directive, Medically Unlikely Edits (MUEs) will be implemented in the Georgia Medicaid Management Information System (GAMMIS) effective on or after February 1, 2013. A MUE for a HCPCS/CPT code is the maximum units of service that a provider would report under most circumstances for a single beneficiary on a single date of service (all HCPCS/CPT codes do not have an MUE). MUEs place limits on the number of units that can be billed for individual codes. These coding edits are generally based on anatomical considerations.

Below are two (2) examples of procedure codes that are currently in GAMMIS with CMS? MUE limits:

Currently, CPT code 11044 is listed in GAMMIS with a maximum allowable of 4 units. The CMS? MUEs list a maximum allowable of 1 unit per day. Under the NCCI/MUE directive, the entire line would deny for this CPT code if billed with a max of 4 units.

CPT code 15851 is currently configured in GAMMIS to allow one (1) unit per day. CMS? MUE list this code with a maximum allowable of one (1) unit per day. The line for this code would adjudicate and pay according to CMS? NCCI/MUE regulations.

Procedure Code 11044 15851

DCH Units Allowed 4 units 1 unit

CMS MUEs 1 unit 1 unit

Adjudication DENY PAY

For the MMIS to validate the number of units billed (number of days) for the MUE logic, the TDOS must be present on the submitted claim. If the TDOS is not submitted, default logic will be applied. For example, on the inpatient UB claim the default logic will default to the TDOS at the UB header line. For the professional claims, the appropriate number of days (units billed) should be billed on the claim?s detail line. For additional information on NCCI/MUE and sample procedure code sets, please refer to the following CMS? website: http://www.cms.gov/MedicaidNCCICoding/

Clarification of the NCCI Edits and their Associated Modifiers

CMS has directed state Medicaid agencies to adhere to its claim adjudication rules for implementing the Procedure-to-Procedure (PTP) edits. If an edit pair has a Correct Coding Modifier Indicator (CCMI) of `1?, and, if a designated PTP-associated modifier is used correctly on either code of the PTP edit pair, then the NCCI edit should be bypassed. A list of the current PTP-associated modifiers can be found in the Medicaid NCCI Edit Design Manual on the CMS? web site. CMS has added two (2) new HCPCS modifiers [RI, LM] for the NCCI edits that also must be implemented.

It is the state's intent to comply with the CMS? NCCI/MUE directive and implement the modifier adjudication rules in GAMMIS on or after February 1, 2013, for the applicable Medicaid fee-for-service claims subject to the Practitioner and Outpatient Hospital edits.

PTP Edit Appeals

CMS confirmed through a conference call on December 7, 2012, with GA Medicaid that State Medicaid agencies are not to follow the Medicare appeals process for denials of PTP pairs under the NCCI/MUE regulations. CMS reports that the appeals components of the Medicare NCCI methodologies are not currently compatible to Medicaid. Therefore States are being allowed flexibility to implement their own appeals process for PTP co-pairs denials. Per this CMS guidance, GA Medicaid?s current appeals process remains the same as outlined in Section 502.1 of the Part 1, Medicaid/Peachcare for Kids Manual, Chapter 500.

Wellcare Prior Authorization Change
We received the following information from Wellcare regarding prior authorizations for therapy evaluations:
Wellcare will remove authorization requirements for Skilled Therapy evaluations (CPTs 92506, 97001 – 97006) for POS 11 and 22 only (POS 12 STILL REQUIRES AUTH).

They are working to produce a banner message to speak to these changes to avoid any confusion. The Authorization Look-up Tool has also been updated to reflect the changes for Skilled Therapy evaluations in POS 11 and 22 only. Providers that submit authorization requests for skilled therapy evaluations will receive a "No Authorization Required" fax notification from the plan. Please note, skilled therapy evaluations preformed in the home (POS 12) will continue to require authorization.

Medicaid Change Regarding Billing
Medicaid has released a recent Banner Message and has made several changes to the Policy and Procedure manual regarding therapy codes that can be billed together. They are making these changes to be in compliance with federal NCCI (National Correct Coding Initiative) edits. Information regarding these changes and codes that are no longer allowed to be billed together can be found at http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/downloads/How-To-Use-NCCI-Tools.pdf. Cognitive, sensory, and augmentative communication codes are examples of some of the codes being affected. A prior authorization for these codes does not guarantee payment. Providers can appeal denied services but there is no guarantee of payment. The Medicaid manual indicates that modifiers can be used but there is no specific explanation on which modifiers are allowed. In addition, claims are getting denied despite the use of modifiers so use of a modifier is not a guarantee of payment. The

Medicaid manual states: Please refer to CMS for the codes that may not be billed in combination per NCCI edits. These codes may change each quarter. A provider who wishes to appeal a claim that denied for an NCCI edit must follow the appeals process and submit form 520A, along with clinical documentation, to GMCF for review.

GSHA members, please contact our healthcare chair if you have any related concerns or if you can provide further clarity regarding the above information.

ASHA State Medicare Administrative Contractor Network (SMAC) Report

Part-B Medicare Changes in Effect for 2012: On February 22, 2012, President Obama signed into law the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (MCTRJCA), which extends the exceptions process for outpatient therapy caps for the remainder of calendar year (CY) 2012. Read more...

03/29/12 From the Vice President of Professional Practice by LaRae Brown

LaRae has composed a legislative update to keep members informed about important legislation affecting our members this 2012 legislative session. This report follows.

House Bills HB 52 This bill will add public and private schools and colleges and universities to places where a disabled persons may be accompanied by a guide or service dog. This bill was passed by the House on 2-16 and has most recently gone through a second read in the Senate on 3-10.

HB 181 This bill related to scholarship programs for special needs students to attend a private school or another public school if the child has an IEP relating to eligibility requirements (further information can be found at http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/External-Affairs-and-Policy/Policy/Pages/Special-Needs-Scholarship-Program.aspx.). This bill passed the House on 3-15 and Senate on 3-22.

HB171 A substitute of this bill passed the House amending the Budget for FY2012. The Medicaid low income budget was cut $1.5.1 million based on projected benefit needs in this program. Signed by Gov.Nathan Deal on 3-15-2012. For more details. contact the House Budget Office.

HB 821 stresses mandatory educational requirements that would require parents, guardians or other persons having control or charge over a child subjected to mandatory attendance would enroll the child within 15 days of residence in Georgia. This bill also addresses specific penalties for those responsible for a child with 30 days of unexcused absences. This bill is still in the House.

HB 673 "Georgia Return to Play act 2012" would require students who have received a sports related concussion or suspected head injury to receive a licensed health care provider's approval before returning to play. This can go a long way to help prevent long term cognitive impairments. On 3-05-2012 this bill was sent to House rules committee. Unfortunately, this bill is "stuck" in the House and did not crossover to the Senate.

Senate Bills SB301 was introduced last year and passed the senate. This bill would allow silencers on guns to cut down on hunters hearing loss. SB 301 passed the Senate on 1-31 and is currently in the House for a second read.

SB 227( Home Schooling Bill) passed the Senate and adopted on Feb. 2 after much discussion. This bill would require that declaration of intent and attendance records for home study programs be submitted to the Department of Education rather than to local school superintendents. This bill was passed and adopted by the Senate on 2-2-12 and by the House on 3-22-12.

SB 373 that would provide for the transportation authority to operate vehicles for hire equipped to transport passengers in wheelchairs in Georgia.This bill was passed and adopted by the Senate on 3-5-2012. On 3-22-2012 the House favorably reported this bill.

SB375 would require products manufacturers of orthodontic /dental appliances/ prosthesis to disclose materials used in the appliances and providea course of action for non-compliance. Senate read and referred on Feb.3, 2012.

SB445 proposed to revamp the way that professional licensing occurs in Georgia. In essence, the Georgia Secretary of State was proposing to disband the current professional boards that review applications and combine all of the state board. This bill was withdrawn in the Senate due to a huge responses from many of the 500,000 licensed Georgians.

SB414 the "music therapy bill" was amended at GSHA's request so that the bill did not include assessment or treatment of communication disorders. SB 414 was passed and adopted by the Senate on 3-05-2012. On 3-21-2012 a substitute bill passed the Regulated Industries sub-committee and full committee.