Complete Story
11/04/2026
Ohio Legislative Lame Duck Set to Begin in Wake of 2026 General Election
This week, voters across the state finished casting their ballots for the 2026 general election, making numerous key decisions that will impact state leadership in the New Year.
2026 Election Results:
Ohio’s next governor will be Dr. Amy Acton (D), and Ohioans also elected Sherrod Brown (D) in the special election for U.S. Senate. According to unofficial results, it also appears that Democrats are on track to take two, potentially three formerly Republican seats in the U.S. Congress. In the Statehouse races, unofficial results show that two Ohio Senate seats have flipped from Republican to Democrat, and in the Ohio House, Democratic candidates have flipped enough seats to break the longstanding Republican supermajority in that chamber (eight seats). Votes are still being counted in several undecided races. As of Wednesday morning, the Ohio Supreme Court races remained too close to call, with Democratic candidates Jennifer Brunner and Marilyn Zayas holding very narrow leads.
What’s Next?
Now that the election is behind us, OSMA’s Advocacy team is set to dive headfirst into several priority legislative efforts during the legislature’s lame duck session.
And it’s off to the races! All legislation introduced in the 2025-2026 legislative cycle has from now until the end of this year to pass through both chambers at the Statehouse and become law or those bills must start the process all over again in the new general assembly next year.
Since the legislators left the Statehouse for the summer recess, OSMA has been taking steps to be as well prepared for lame duck as possible, and we are confident that our work has put two of our major insurance reform initiatives in a strong position for the upcoming whirlwind in the legislature. OSMA hopes to be able to achieve two more major insurance reform victories for Ohio physicians with these bills during lame duck!
HB 220: This bill passed out of the Ohio House this spring. Sponsored by Rep. Heidi Workman (R-Rootstown), HB 220 would:
- Prohibit retroactive denials except for in the case of non-covered benefits or lack of coverage at the time of service.
- Require peer review of prior authorization appeals to occur between the provider and a clinical peer, who must identify themselves.
- Prohibit insurers from charging providers to appeal rejected claims.
- Require insurers to account for dosage adjustments in drug prior authorizations to treat chronic conditions.
We begin lame duck with HB 220 in a highly advantageous position, having already started the committee process in the Senate after passing in the House. The OSMA Advocacy team will be pushing for additional hearings in order to keep the momentum going and hopefully carry this bill the rest of the way through the legislature.
SB 160: This legislation passed out of the Ohio Senate in June. As a reminder, SB 160 aims to prohibit mid-year insurer drug formulary changes, preventing abrupt and unwarranted patient treatment changes which can sometimes result in negative, even significantly dangerous health outcomes. This bill is sponsored by Sen. Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) and Sen. Beth Liston (D-Dublin), who are both Ohio physicians.
Having passed out of one chamber, SB 160 now awaits a committee assignment in the House, but once that committee hearing process officially starts, the bill is in a great position for OSMA and our advocacy allies in the physician and healthcare community to hopefully help it across the finish line!
Lame duck can be unpredictable, and we anticipate that other issues we have been following closely may see some activity. We are also keeping a particularly close eye on a variety of scope of practice proposals for any possible legislative movement. These include:
HB 537: Midwives
Sponsored by Rep. Riordan McClain (R-Upper Sandusky) and Rep. Melanie Miller (R-Ashland). Seeks to regulate and license certified midwives and licensed midwives in Ohio. The OSMA Advocacy team has been working to get meaningful changes made to the language in order to create a safe system of licensure/regulation of the practice of midwifery with appropriate scope of practice and safety guardrails, eligibility criteria, etc.
SB 230/HB 629: Pharmacists
OSMA has concerns about legislation to allow pharmacists to conduct screenings, order and administer tests, evaluate the results of the screenings and tests, and provide treatment for certain health conditions. SB 230 would allow tests and screenings for influenza, pharyngitis caused by the bacteria known as “group A streptococcus,” COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Similar legislation (HB 629) would allow pharmacists to treat other conditions such as sinusitis, bronchitis, lice, certain skin conditions, UTIs, and HIV prevention. One of these proposals is likely to pass, as a condition for federal funding through the Rural Health Transformation program. Thankfully, OSMA has been able to work SB 230 into what we believe is the most ideal version of this type of legislation possible, with patient safety guardrails in place, and we believe at this time that it is the more likely of the two bills to pass. We will be watching both proposals closely in the coming weeks.
HB 508 and SB 258/HB 449: APRNs
There are three separate proposals in the Ohio Legislature which would grant APRNs independent practice authority if APRNs complete a certain number of clinical training hours. OSMA is actively opposing all three with concerns about patient safety. Any of the three could have activity during lame duck, and HB 508 may be of particular interest, as we already staved off multiple attempts to get a committee vote on that legislation this spring. The OSMA Advocacy team will be monitoring all three bills closely, prepared to jump in to defend the physician-led team-based approach to care.