Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy
A principal part of the mission of the Maine Medical Association is advocating the interests of Maine physicians and their patients before the legislative and executive branches of our federal and state governments. Indeed, no professional organization or other entity in Maine devotes more resources to advocacy on physicians' behalf before the Maine legislature and executive branch agencies than the Maine Medical Association.
The MMA's advocacy team includes:
- Gordon H. Smith, J.D., Executive Vice President
- Andrew B. MacLean, J.D., Deputy Executive Vice President
- Kellie Miller, M.S., Director of Public Health Policy
Maine's legislature is composed of 186 members (151 members of the House of Representatives and 35 members of the Senate) elected every two years. Members are limited to four consecutive terms in one seat, but they may return after a break and may run for an appropriate seat in the other chamber. Maine also has a system of public campaign financing called the Maine Clean Election Act. Maine's Governor is limited to two four-year terms. The Maine legislature meets for approximately 6 months (January to June) in the first year and for approximately 4 months (January to April) in the second year of the 2-year cycle.
All of the committees of the Maine Legislature are joint House/Senate committees generally composed of 13 members – 3 Senators with 2 from the majority party and 1 from the minority party and 10 Representatives with 6 from the majority party and 4 from the minority party. The following committees have jurisdiction over some portion of health care policy:
- Joint Standing Committee on Health & Human Services. This Committee is the committee of oversight for the Department of Health & Human Services. It has jurisdiction over the Medicaid program (known as MaineCare), health care facility licensing (hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgical centers, assisted living facilities, residential care facilities, etc.), and behavioral health and long-term care policy.
- Joint Standing Committee on Insurance & Financial Services. This Committee is the committee of oversight for the Bureau of Insurance. It has jurisdiction over health insurance carriers and agents. It has developed Maine's system of regulation of managed care organizations (Maine's Patient Bill of Rights) and addressed mandated health care benefits.
- Joint Standing Committee on Business, Research & Economic Development. This Committee is the committee of oversight for the Department of Professional & Financial Regulation. In addition to the Bureau of Insurance, this Department contains most of the administrative boards responsible for regulating individual health care practitioners. It also has a budgetary relationship with several "affiliated" health care boards – the Board of Licensure in Medicine (M.D.s), the Board of Osteopathic Licensure (D.O.s), and the Board of Dentistry. It has jurisdiction over the licensure and discipline of individual health care practitioners and handles scope of practice issues.
- Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary. This committee addresses issues of medical liability, medical ethics, and medical rights. It developed all of Maine's medical liability reform laws and has handled issues of advance directives and end-of-life care.
In addition to these four committees, the legislature's two "money" committees inevitably are involved in the health care policy debate – the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation (the revenue committee) and the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations & Financial Affairs (the spending committee).
The principal executive branch agencies involved in the development of health care policy in Maine are the Department of Health & Human Services and the Department of Professional & Financial Regulation. Two quasi-independent agencies, the Maine Health Data Organization and the Workers' Compensation Board also play a role in health care policy development.
The MMA's advocacy team knows the key decision-makers in the legislature and the executive branch and is actively engaged in representing physicians and their patients in the health care policy debate in Maine. Mr. Smith and Mr. MacLean together have almost 50 years of experience in government affairs in Maine. If you would like more information or would like to become involved in the MMA's advocacy work, please contact Mr. Smith, Mr. MacLean, or Ms. Smith.
The following are resources to keep you informed of the MMA's advocacy efforts:
- Maine Legislature's Home Page.[Go] You will find a wealth of information about Maine's legislative process on this web page. You can research the legislative history of any bill and can find Maine's statutes online.
- Bill Status Search.[Go] You can determine the current procedural status of any bill in the current legislature at this site.
- Joint Standing Committees.[Go] You can find the membership of the joint standing committees of the current legislature at this site.
- Political Pulse.[ Go]
The MMA publishes an electronic newsletter covering legislative activity and including "calls to action" weekly during the legislative session. - 123rd Maine Legislature, First Regular Session Bill Requests of Interest to the Maine Medical Association [Go]
- Legislative Document Tracking List. This document provides basic information about bills being tracked by the MMA in the current legislature. Tracking List from 124th Legislature
- State Agency Rules.[Go] You can find administrative rules promulgated by executive branch agencies at this site.
- Physicians' Day at the Legislature. Physicians' Day at the Legislature is a bi-annual event and the next one will be in 2011. Questions regarding this event can be addressed to Maureen Elwell at 622-3374 ext: 219.
- Doctor of the Day.[Go]You can find information about participating as a "Doctor of the Day" at the Maine legislature here. In addition to familiarizing yourself with Maine's legislative process, your children may enjoy serving as "Honorary Pages" during your visit.
- Grassroots Action Center.[Go] Visit the MMA's Grassroots Action Center to locate your legislators and formulate an email or letter to legislators on current issues.
- Legislative Summary - Current Legislature.[ Go PDF] You will find MMA's most current summary of health care legislation here.
- Legislative Summary - Previous Legislatures.
- "Top Ten" List. You will find the MMA's current "Top Ten" list of legal, legislative, and regulatory successes here.[Go]