Telehealth payment parity

A wide-ranging update to Alaska's insurance code that creates a licensing and examination system for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and third-party administrators, expands the types of health plans employers can offer, adds insurer financial-reporting requirements, and includes several consumer-protection provisions.

Requires health insurers to respond to prior-authorization requests for medical care within set deadlines: 72 hours for routine requests and 24 hours for expedited ones. The bill passed the legislature unanimously and became law without the governor's signature.

Expands what pharmacists in Alaska can prescribe and test for (including medications for opioid use disorder and treatment for minor conditions), renames the 'physician assistant' license to 'physician associate,' and updates pharmacist reciprocity and collaborative-practice rules. Governor Dunleavy vetoed the bill, citing concerns about expanding pharmacist authority too quickly, but the legislature overrode the veto 43-17.