Highlights from the 2019 legislative session on your behalf include: 

• Trial lawyers launched a campaign against MICRA, independent practice measures are moving forward at both the state and national levels, and we will also be handling dozens of other policy proposals in the months ahead. 

• CalDerm supported legislation and worked with California’s Department of Justice to ensure proper implementation – and prevent unnecessary intrusion into Dermatologists’ offices – of the Controlled Substance Utilization and Review and Evaluation System (CURES) Act. 

• CalDerm introduced legislation in 2019 to ensure physicians could order MAs to draw up lidocaine and was able to gain clarity on the matter through a Legislative Counsel opinion

• Because 2020 launches the second half of a two-year Legislative session, many of the key issues described above will come to a head. With your support, CalDerm will continue to be your voice at the public policy table.

• CalDerm has closely monitored a broad range of issues from the buffering of lidocaine (considered by some to constitute “compounding”) to the inappropriate (and illegal) use of non-physician providers in aesthetic and medical care.
• CalDerm supported legislation to ensure Dermatologists are paid fairly, whether they see patients in-person or through tele-dermatology.
• CalDerm opposed legislation that would require some physicians to disclose retirement benefits.
• CalDerm supported legislation that would inform patients about harmful substances in cosmetic compounds.
• CalDerm has closely monitored and weighed-in on numerous expansion-of-scope bills that would change alter supervision and practice requirements for nurses, mid-level providers, optometrists and many others.
• CalDerm over time has supported or sponsored more than a dozen pieces of legislation to ensure patients and the general public are aware of, and have access to, products and Dermatology services that prevent skin cancer.