Bosland recounts personal fight for access to specialty drugs; committee asks counsel to draft bill guaranteeing patients can keep prescribed medications in in‑

Representative Michelle Bosland introduced a short‑form bill on Feb. 20 intended to ensure people in inpatient settings may continue to take medically necessary medications prescribed by a licensed provider, including medicines obtained from specialty pharmacies.

Bosland told the committee she was diagnosed last November with a rare form of lung cancer and said the only treatment that controls the disease is a daily targeted therapy she must reorder two weeks in advance. "There are many medications that come from specialty pharmacies that hospitals and nursing facilities don't stock," Bosland said. She said H736 would put into statute a patient's ability to continue prescribed medications during inpatient stays so future policy changes would not make access harder.

Witnesses described both real‑world harms and existing practice. A witness identified as Sam recounted his father’s case (myasthenia gravis), saying hospital staff initially would not use medicine his mother brought; Sam said his father's breathing failed and he required resuscitation before the hospital accepted the patient's medication. "I watched. They called the code blue... He stopped breathing," Sam said, describing the event as the kind of situation H736 aims to prevent.

Hospital representatives urged careful drafting. Devin Green of the Association of Hospitals and Health Systems said most Vermont hospitals do not stock specialty drugs but that "the majority" allow patients to bring medications from home and that pharmacy‑board rules require institutions to verify identity and quality before administration. Green recommended the committee solicit more detailed drafting and to engage long‑term care and skilled‑nursing facilities because federal regulations applicable to those sites may differ from hospitals.

Committee concerns and decision: members pressed on operational details the short form omits — which facilities are covered, how "inpatient" is defined (hospital versus longer‑term residential settings), who is responsible for verifying, storing and administering brought‑in drugs, and whether facilities would face liability. Jen Carby of the Legislative Council said counsel will need direction on which health‑care facilities to include and on "reliability issues" such as storage, administration and liability to prepare standard legislative text.

Motion and committee action: the chair moved to request that legislative counsel convert H736 into a standard‑form (committee) bill for drafting and further consideration; the committee signaled unanimous support in a straw poll and instructed counsel to draft language and to schedule additional testimony next week on the operational issues the committee identified.

Next steps: committee members asked legislative counsel to include findings and a concise statement of purpose but to avoid an undue workload or a broad study; counsel and members agreed to seek testimony from long‑term care advocates, the board of pharmacy, hospital representatives and ombudsmen to address facility coverage, liability questions and dispensing practices before the committee votes on a final bill.

The committee did not adopt final statutory language on Feb. 20 and left the short form as the basis for drafting; members emphasized that many hospitals already permit patients to bring in medications but that statutory clarity would protect patients across all inpatient settings.