ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604080032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Gov. George Allen signed a bill Friday that will give women in HMOs direct access to their gynecologists and issued an order extending the measure to state employees and their families.
The bill was one of several measures relating to women's health-care services signed by the Republican governor. Other laws will provide insurance coverage for longer stays in the hospital after giving birth, and for mammograms and annual Pap smears.
``Virginia is taking the initiative to move appropriately forward ... as far as women's health care is concerned,'' Allen said during a signing ceremony outside the newborns' unit at a suburban Richmond hospital.
He was joined by legislators from both parties who sponsored the bills.
The direct access measure will allow about 400,000 more women in health maintenance organizations to see their obstetricians and gynecologists for annual and follow-up visits without prior approval from a primary-care physician. The bill goes back to the General Assembly April 17 for approval of a minor amendment.
Allen said he added the more than 100,000 state employees and their families to those covered because he didn't think public servants should be left out.
Proponents of the measure said it is important for women to have direct access to OB-GYN doctors because it is more convenient and primary-care providers might not be able to diagnose some problems, such as ovarian cancer.
HMOs and business interests fought the measure, saying it could drive up costs needlessly and lead to frivolous self-referrals. Allen disagreed, saying the law might even reduce costs because some women would end up seeing one doctor instead of two.
``It's common sense,'' he said. ``I think it's good health-care practice as well.''
Allen also signed a bill to combat what has been dubbed ``drive-through delivery.''
The law will bar insurers from pushing mothers and newborns out of the hospital as soon as 24 hours after childbirth, if doctors don't think they are ready to go home.
The compromise measure hammered out during the legislative session will force insurers to base discharge decisions on established medical guidelines rather than mandatory lengths of stay as originally proposed by patient advocates.
Allen also signed the Genetic Privacy Act, which will allow people to seek out information about certain genetic diseases and disorders without fear of losing health insurance.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB