Oklahoma Health Care Authority CEO Clay Bullard announced that Gov. Kevin Stitt revised and reissued an executive order on abortion last week during the OHCA Board’s January meeting. This followed concerns from agency board members related to its requirement for Medicaid providers to submit a signed attestation disclosing abortion-related activities.
The initial July executive order directed OHCA to update its credentialing and contracting procedures to exclude certain providers or entities from new or renewed participation in Oklahoma’s Medicaid program. That included:
- Those who perform, refer for or are affiliated with the performance of abortions not permitted under state law.
- Those under common ownership or control with an entity engaged in abortion-related activities inconsistent with state law.
A proposed rule meant to implement the order was tabled in a September OHCA board meeting. Members were concerned about a lack of clarity regarding what words like "affiliation" meant and the consequences providers could face. If they were found to be noncompliant, a provider could be denied, excluded, not renewed or terminated from participating in Oklahoma Medicaid.
A revised rule including definitions for “affiliated with,” "refer for” and “abortion-related activities” was considered in a November board meeting. But members were still wary, citing concerns about the order’s legality and impact on providers. They rejected it, voting to seek clarity from Stitt and permission to pause implementation.
“If not, I imagine that there will be folks in the provider community that will seek declaratory judgment for a temporary injunction to stay the execution of these attestations until we get cleared either from the courts or from the attorney general,” said Board Vice Chair Alex Yaffe in November.
A couple of days later, the agency announced it would not require providers to submit attestations until further notice.
Stitt’s new order removes any mention of abortion affiliation and related activities, and requirements for issuing rule changes. Now, it states that OHCA’s updated credentialing and contracting procedures should exclude providers or entities who:
- Perform, refer for, or provide material support for or facilitation of the performance of abortions not permitted under Oklahoma law.
- Are under common ownership with or direct financial or operational control of an entity engaged in performing, referring for, or providing material support for or facilitation of the performance of abortions not permitted under Oklahoma law.
“A lot of the ambiguity in language that you guys debated for quite some time, that language was taken out,” Bullard said during January’s board meeting. “It really falls in line now with exactly what state law is.”
A new form was sent out to providers Wednesday evening. Bullard said it basically asks providers to attest they are following state law as it relates to abortion – something that is already in their current contract.
“This is just above and beyond their contract, so that each one of them individually attests that they're going to do that,” Bullard said.
Tevis Hillis, Stitt’s press secretary, told StateImpact the intent of the governor’s amended executive order “is for providers to follow state law.”
Providers who signed and are comfortable with the previous attestation do not need to submit a new one, Bullard said. About 34,000 have already signed the original form. But they can choose to sign the new form.
Those who didn’t sign the first form must sign the new one. The deadline is 5 p.m., May 15. If a provider doesn’t take action by then, that will be considered noncompliance with the executive order.
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