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4/22/2024 Media Advisory: Senate Health and Human Services Committee to hear variety of bills
STATE HOUSE – The Senate Health and Human Services Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday and Thursday this week for hearings on numerous bills, including bills to require insurers to cover infertility treatment.

The committee meets tomorrow, Tuesday, April 23, at the rise of the Senate (sometime after 4:30 p.m.) in the Senate Lounge on the second floor of the State House for hearings on three bills:
  • 2024-S 2398 — Sponsored by Sen. John P. Burke (D-Dist. 9, West Warwick), this bill would prohibit medical training programs from using live animals to teach medical procedures if any other accredited training program does not use animals or there is an alternate method that teaches the lesson without the use of an animal.
  • 2024-S 2617 — This bill sponsored by Sen. Bridget Valverde (D-Dist. 35, North Kingstown, East Greenwich, South Kingstown) would allow pharmacists to prescribe tobacco cessation drug therapies with programs approved by the state Board of Pharmacy.
  • 2024-S 2870 — This bill sponsored by Sen. Alana M. DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham) would provide that the performance of cosmetic medical services is the practice of medicine and surgery.
The committee meets again Thursday, April 25, at the rise of the Senate session (sometime after 4:30 p.m.) in the Senate Lounge on the second floor of the State House for hearings on several bills, including:
  • 2024-S 2396 and 2024-S 2946 — These bills sponsored by Sen. Sandra Cano (D-Dist. 8, Pawtucket) would require health insurers to cover diagnosis and treatment of infertility, including pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF).
  • 2024-S 2871 — Sponsored by Sen. Frank S. Lombardi (D-Dist. 26, Cranston), this bill would include licensed school psychologists under the provisions of the general laws governing the regulations of psychologists and expands the licensing of school psychologists for independent practice.
  • 2024-S 2876 — This bill sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Hanna M. Gallo (D-Dist. 27, Cranston, West Warwick) would allow the state to become a member of the physical therapist licensure compact adopted by 25 states in order to facilitate the interstate practice of physical therapy with the goal of improving public access to physical therapy services.
Both meetings will be televised on Capitol Television, which can be seen on Cox channel 61, on i3Broadband channel 15 and on Verizon channel 34. They will be live streamed at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv.

Testimony will be accepted in person or in writing. Written testimony must be submitted prior to 3 p.m. the day of the applicable meeting in order for it to be provided to the members of the committee at the hearing and to be included in the meeting records. It may be emailed to SLegislation@rilegislature.gov.



For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923