The State Assembly and State Senate convened on Monday, January 6 to kick off the 2025-2026 legislative session.  In the Assembly, Republicans hold 54 seats and Democrats hold 45 seats. In the Senate, Republicans hold 18 seats and Democrats hold 15 seats.  

The following legislators will serve in leadership positions in both the Assembly and Senate during the 2025-2026 legislative session:

Senate Republicans

• Senate Majority Leader – Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg)
• Senate President – Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk)
• Senate Assistant Majority Leader – Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac)
• Senate President Pro Tempore – Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point)
• Senate Republican Caucus Chair – Van Wanggaard (R-Racine)
• Senate Republican Caucus Vice-Chair Rachel Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton)

Senate Democrats

• Senate Minority Leader – Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton)
• Senate Assistant Minority Leader – Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire)
• Senate Minority Caucus Chair – Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit)
• Senate Minority Vice Caucus Chair – Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee)

Assembly Republicans

•  Assembly Speaker – Robin Vos (R-Rochester)
• Assembly Majority Leader – Tyler August (R-Walworth)
• Assembly Assistant Majority Leader – Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa)
• Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore – Kevin Peterson (R-Waupaca)
• Assembly Majority Caucus Chair – Rob Summerfield (R-Bloomer)
• Assembly Majority Caucus Vice Chair – Cindi Duchow (R-Delafield)
• Assembly Majority Caucus Secretary – Nancy VanderMeer (R-Tomah)
• Assembly Majority Caucus Sergeant at Arms – Treig Pronschinske (R-Mondovi)

Assembly Democrats

• Assembly Minority Leader – Greta Neubauer (D-Racine)
• Assembly Assistant Minority Leader – Kalan Haywood (D-Milwaukee)
• Assembly Minority Caucus Chair – Lisa Subeck (D-Madison)
• Assembly Minority Caucus Vice Chair – Clinton Anderson (D-Beloit)
• Assembly Minority Caucus Secretary – Mike Bare (D-Verona)
• Assembly Minority Caucus Sergeant at Arms – Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire)

Legislative Leaders Announce Committee Chairs

At the end of last year, Legislative Republicans announced the chairs of the various Assembly and Senate committees for the 2025-2026 legislative session.  The following committee chairs may be of interest to WiAHC members:

Assembly Committees

·        Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care

o   Chair:  Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie)

·        Committee on Insurance

o   Chair:  Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc)

·        Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention

o   Chair:  Rep. Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc)

·        Committee on Regulatory Licensing Reform

o   Chair:  Rep. Shae Sortwell (R-Two Rivers)

·        Committee on Science, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence

o   Chair:  Rep. Nate Gustafson (R-Fox Crossing)

Senate Committees

·        Committee on Health

o   Chair:  Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton)

·        Committee on Insurance, Housing, Rural Issues & Forestry

o   Chair:  Sen. Romaine Quinn (R-Birchwood)

·        Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State & Federal Affairs

o   Chair:  Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Pewaukee)

·        Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children & Families

o   Chair:  Sen. Jesse James (R-Altoona)

Legislators Appointed to Assembly and Senate Health Committees

The following state legislators have been appointed to the Assembly and Senate Health Committees for the 2025-2026 legislative session:

Assembly Committee on Health, Aging & Long-Term Care

·        Rep. Clint Moses (R-Menomonie), Chair

·        Rep. Rob Brooks (R-Saukville), Vice Chair

·        Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc)

·        Rep. Rick Gundrum (R-Slinger)

·        Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay)

·        Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee)

·        Rep. Patrick Snyder (R-Weston)

·        Rep. Rob Summerfield (R-Bloomer)

·        Rep. Nancy VanderMeer (R-Tomah)

·        Rep. Chuck Wichgers (R-Muskego)

·        Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison), Ranking Democrat

·        Rep. Sheila Stubbs (D-Madison)

·        Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa)

·        Rep. Tara Johnson (D-Town of Shelby)

·        Rep. Renuka Mayadev (D-Madison)

Senate Committee on Health

·        Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara (R-Appleton), Chair

·        Sen. Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point), Vice Chair

·        Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp)

·        Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Brunswick), Ranking Democratic Member

·        Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee)

In January, the state Department of Health Services (DHS) announced that they now offer their certified direct care professional (CDCP) training program in the Hmong language, in addition to English and Spanish.  CDCPs provide personal/supportive home care to senior citizens and disabled people.

Wisconsinites interested in receiving the CDCP certification may sign up to receive free training and then will need to pass an online test in order to be certified.  Certified individuals who obtain employment with an eligible employer may earn up to $500 in combined hiring and retention bonuses. 

More information may be found on the DHS website.

As we look back over the 2023-2024 state legislative session, we are grateful for the strong advocacy efforts of WiAHC in Madison.  With your help, WiAHC helped accomplish a number of priorities that benefit home health care agencies and the patients we serve:

• The following funding items supported by WiAHC were included in the state’s FY2023-FY2025 enacted budget:
• State funding to continue the federally funded Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) 5.0 percent Medicaid reimbursement rate increase through June 30, 2025.  This rate increase was initially funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). 
• Maintained $5 million in annual funding for the nurse educators’ program. 
• WiAHC also supported legislation – Senate Bill 476 – that codified existing state regulations allowing health care providers that do not have a physical location in Wisconsin to be certified as a Medicaid provider in order to treat patients who are Medicaid beneficiaries via telehealth as long as the provider is licensed in the state and is in good standing with the relevant occupational licensing board.  Governor Evers signed this bill on March 22, 2024. 

We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with WiAHC as the 2025-2026 state legislative session begins.

From all of us at Hoven Consulting, we would like to wish all of you and your families a very happy and healthy holiday season! 

In early December, the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) unveiled a new streamlined Medicaid process for new clinicians.  In particular, the process captures data that medical professionals enter into the DSPS system when applying for an initial medical credential and automatically and securely imports that into the system that registers and validates new clinicians with the state’s Medicaid program.  Prior to this process change, new clinicians would have to manually enter required information in order to register as a Medicaid provider – much of which is duplicative to what is manually entered when applying for an initial health care credential. 

On December 4, 2024, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Senate Democratic Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) announced the members of the powerful budget-writing Joint Committee on Finance for the 2025-2026 legislative session.

The following Republican senators will be members of this committee:

• Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), Co-Chair
• Senator Patrick Testin (R-Stevens Point), Vice Chair
• Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay)
• Senator Julian Bradley (R-New Berlin)*
• Senator Romaine Quinn (R-Cameron)*
• Senator Rob Stafsholt (R-New Richmond)*

The following Democratic senators will be members of this committee:

• Senator LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee), Ranking Member
• Senator Kelda Roys (D-Madison)

* Indicates new committee member.

On December 11, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) announced the following Republican representatives will take the following positions on this committee:

• Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam), Co-Chair
• Representative Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc), Vice Chair

On December 18, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) announced the following Republican representative will join this committee:

• Representative Karen Hurd (R-Withee)

NOTE:  As of December 18, 2024, Assembly Republican and Democratic leaders have not yet announced their remaining members of the Joint Committee on Finance.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) has announced that the agency will hold its second annual Wisconsin Harm Reduction Conference at the Chula Vista Resort in the Wisconsin Dells on July 16-17 of next year.  Various health professionals are invited to attend, including local and tribal health department staff, first responders, AIDS/HIV care workers, among others.  Those who are interested may also attend virtually. 

For more information on this conference, please go to the DHS website. 

In recent weeks, DHS launched a new online system to help alert health professionals regarding overdoses in our state’s communities.  The new system is called the Wisconsin Suspected Overdose Alerts for Rapid Response (WiSOARR).  According to the DHS website, “Authorized access to WiSOARR is available to professionals at approved organizations providing services across the continuum of care in substance use, from primary prevention to treatment and harm reduction.”

If you would like to obtain access to WiSOARR for your organization, or would like more information about this system, please visit the DHS website. 

Earlier this month, the WiAHC Legislative Committee approved the association’s policy agenda for the 2025-2026 state legislative session.  The priorities are as follows:

• Increase the physical and occupational therapist workforce in rural Wisconsin by creating a grant- based incentive program and grow/strengthen Wisconsin’s home health care workforce generally.

• Support efforts to create a state Palliative Care Council.

• Promote harmonization of federal and state home health care regulations by eliminating “professional advisory bodies” in state regulations, while retaining patient protections.

• Work with the state Department of Health Services to continuously improve the Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) program.

• Promote increased utilization of home health care in Wisconsin.

On October 22, WiAHC Madison lobbyist Nathan Butzlaff presented a Champion of Home Health Care award to state Representative Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam).  This award, which WiAHC presents to state legislators at the end of every two-year legislative session, was presented to Rep. Born in his capacity as Assembly Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Finance.  As a co-chair, he helped lead the approval of the Fiscal Year 2023-2025 state budget that included a continuation of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) five percent increase from April 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.  This continuation of funds has directly benefited home health agencies statewide.   

WiAHC Madison lobbyists Tim Hoven and Nathan Butzlaff previously presented the other Champion of Home Health Care award to state Senator Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), the Senate co-chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, as he also helped lead the approval of the budget that includes the funding described above.