2022 Nevada Revised Statutes
Chapter 439 - Administration of Public Health
NRS 439.916 - Systematic review of issues relating to health care; authority to request information from state and local governmental entities; hyperlink to data dashboard.
1. The Commission shall systematically review issues related to the health care needs of residents of this State and the quality, accessibility and affordability of health care, including, without limitation, prescription drugs, in this State. The review must include, without limitation:
(a) Comprehensively examining the system for regulating health care in this State, including, without limitation, the licensing and regulation of health care facilities and providers of health care and the role of professional licensing boards, commissions and other bodies established to regulate or evaluate policies related to health care.
(b) Identifying gaps and duplication in the roles of such boards, commissions and other bodies.
(c) Examining the cost of health care and the primary factors impacting those costs.
(d) Examining disparities in the quality and cost of health care between different groups, including, without limitation, minority groups and other distinct populations in this State.
(e) Reviewing the adequacy and types of providers of health care who participate in networks established by health carriers in this State and the geographic distribution of the providers of health care who participate in each such network.
(f) Reviewing the availability of health benefit plans, as defined in NRS 687B.470, in this State.
(g) Reviewing the effect of any changes to Medicaid, including, without limitation, the expansion of Medicaid pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, on the cost and availability of health care and health insurance in this State.
(h) If a data dashboard is established pursuant to NRS 439.245, using the data dashboard to review access by different groups and populations in this State to services provided through telehealth and evaluating policies to make such access more equitable.
(i) Reviewing proposed and enacted legislation, regulations and other changes to state and local policy related to health care in this State.
(j) Researching possible changes to state or local policy in this State that may improve the quality, accessibility or affordability of health care in this State, including, without limitation:
(1) The use of purchasing pools to decrease the cost of health care;
(2) Increasing transparency concerning the cost or provision of health care;
(3) Regulatory measures designed to increase the accessibility and the quality of health care, regardless of geographic location or ability to pay;
(4) Facilitating access to data concerning insurance claims for medical services to assist in the development of public policies;
(5) Resolving problems relating to the billing of patients for medical services;
(6) Leveraging the expenditure of money by the Medicaid program and reimbursement rates under Medicaid to increase the quality and accessibility of health care for low-income persons; and
(7) Increasing access to health care for uninsured populations in this State, including, without limitation, retirees and children.
(k) Monitoring and evaluating proposed and enacted federal legislation and regulations and other proposed and actual changes to federal health care policy to determine the impact of such changes on the cost of health care in this State.
(l) Evaluating the degree to which the role, structure and duties of the Commission facilitate the oversight of the provision of health care in this State by the Commission and allow the Commission to perform activities necessary to promote the health care needs of residents of this State.
(m) Making recommendations to the Governor, the Legislature, the Department of Health and Human Services, local health authorities and any other person or governmental entity to increase the quality, accessibility and affordability of health care in this State, including, without limitation, recommendations concerning the items described in this subsection.
2. The Commission may request that any state or local governmental entity submit not more than two reports each year containing or analyzing information that is not confidential by law concerning the cost of health care, consolidation among entities that provide or pay for health care or other issues related to access to health care. To the extent that a governmental entity from which such a report is requested has the resources to compile the report and the disclosure of the information requested is authorized by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Public Law 104-191, the governmental entity shall provide the report to the Executive Director of the Commission and submit a copy of the report to the Attorney General.
3. If a data dashboard is established pursuant to NRS 439.245, the Commission shall make available on an Internet website maintained by the Commission a hyperlink to the data dashboard.
4. As used in this section:
(a) "Health carrier" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 687B.625.
(b) "Network" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 687B.640.
(c) "Telehealth" has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 629.515.
(Added to NRS by 2019, 2812; A 2021, 3005, 3049)
