Overview

Utah State ChartIn 2024, the Utah legislature considered legislation addressing telemedicine services, health insurance benefits, standards for healthcare facilities, and health benefit plan cost sharing, all of which ultimately died.

Utah was one of the first states to operate an APCD, and claims to be the first to begin tracking and analyzing episodes of care, an important feature of risk-sharing based payment systems for states looking to reduce private payer and Medicaid expenditures. The state also enacted a right to shop program in 2018, which requires the Public Employees’ Benefit and Insurance Program to implement a savings reward program and allows health insurers to reward plan enrollees for selecting high-quality and low-cost health care providers. Additionally, to promote prescription drug price transparency, the legislature passed laws to prohibit pharmacy benefits managers from preventing a pharmacist from disclosing cost information to a patient.

State Action

Additional Resources

STATE BUDGET

Utah’s fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30 of the following year.  Agencies submit their budget requests to the governor in October.  The governor submits his or her proposed budget to the state legislature in December.   The legislature typically passes a budget in March. A simple majority is required to pass a budget.  Utah is one of 44 states in which the governor has line item veto authority.

STATE LEGISLATURE

The Utah State Legislature meets annually for a 45-day session, starting on the first Tuesday after the third Monday in January.  There are 29 state senators serving four-year staggered terms.  The 75 members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms.  Bills do not carry over from year to year.

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