By Tony Solari, Solari Government Solutions | January 31, 2019
The first meeting of the North Carolina General Assembly took place on January 9th. The meeting was largely ceremonial in nature, with members being sworn in before their families and friends. Work began in earnest on January 30th, with the weeks in-between devoted to organizational matters.
Last fall’s election changed the character of the NC General Assembly. Democratic electoral gains mean that the “veto proof” majority that Republicans enjoyed during the 2018 session has come to an end. Republicans still control both the House and Senate but will have to work more closely with Democrats to craft and pass legislation. The good news is that leadership from both parties have pledged to work together in a bi-partisan fashion. If this pledge is kept, it could result in a favorable environment for the promotion of digital health and precision medicine in North Carolina.
With the election, there will be some changes to the makeup of key legislative committees. Those decisions are currently being made by leadership and once finalized, we will report those changes to you in these pages.
We will be posting regular updates on how DHIT’s legislation is progressing as well as providing a complete summary and tracking of all legislation introduced that may be of relevance to the digital health and precision health industries.
During the Interim
Since the end of the 2018 session, DHIT staff and your lobbyist have been working to further inform legislators about the role that Digital Health can play in transforming healthcare. This work paves the way for the introduction of DHIT Legislation that will create pilot programs designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of digital care models in advancing precision health. The DHIT legislation is in the final stages of development. If you or your organization would like to get involved in our 2019 Impact Programs, please read our Roadmap to Impact White Paper and contact us at [email protected].