Hospice; specifying certain penalties; defining term. Effective date.
SB 1562 amends Oklahoma’s hospice licensing and operating requirements, primarily by updating statutory language and strengthening rules against hospice patient solicitation. The bill keeps in place existing standards for hospice coordination of care, 24/7 availability, bereavement services, quality assurance, recordkeeping, and governing structure, while clarifying the composition and responsibilities of the hospice team and administrator.
A central feature of the bill is a new or clarified prohibition on knowingly or intentionally soliciting patients for hospice services, including contacting patients already enrolled in another hospice program in a licensed facility to recruit them away. It also makes it a misdemeanor to pay or offer benefits for securing or soliciting hospice patients, with fines ranging from $500 to $2,000, and authorizes the State Department of Health to take administrative action and seek injunctions. The bill defines “solicit” for this purpose and includes exceptions for lawful advertising, fair-market-value marketing arrangements, and certain insurer-related hospice arrangements.
The bill amends 63 O.S. 2021, Section 1-860.4, affecting the state’s hospice regulatory framework and the enforcement tools available to the Oklahoma State Department of Health. It adds criminal penalties, administrative discipline, and injunctive relief for improper hospice solicitation, while preserving lawful advertising and compliant business arrangements. Hospice providers, employees, contractors, agents, and related health care entities are the primary parties affected, along with patients and families receiving hospice care.
The available voting history shows strong bipartisan support and no recorded opposition in committee or on the floor. The Senate Health & Human Services Committee, the Senate floor, the House Public Health Committee, and the House Health and Human Services Oversight Committee all advanced the bill unanimously or near-unanimously, suggesting broad agreement that the measure addresses an important regulatory issue in hospice care. The committee discussion snippet does not show substantive debate on SB 1562 specifically, but the vote pattern indicates generally favorable sentiment.
The main policy tension is between preventing abusive or unethical hospice patient recruitment and preserving legitimate marketing, advertising, and referral-related business practices. The bill’s opponents, if any, would likely focus on whether the solicitation ban could be applied too broadly to routine outreach or competition among providers, while supporters would emphasize patient protection, integrity in hospice enrollment, and deterrence of kickbacks or poaching. The explicit exceptions for advertising, fair-market-value services, and lawful payment arrangements appear designed to address those concerns.