Jane Wishner has had a diverse career. She has been a litigator, the founder and Executive Director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center, and a health policy expert - even serving as Governor Lujan Grisham’s Executive Policy Advisor for Health and Human Services for three years.

Ms. Wishner gave the students an overview of some of the healthcare issues that New Mexico is facing, from the uninsured, to behavioral health resources, to access to quality healthcare centers. Ms. Wishner has been advising on a bill that would address an aspect of one of these issues, quality healthcare services. There has been a huge trend toward mergers and acquisitions in health care often leading to higher prices for consumers and lower quality care. Senate Bill 15 (SB 15) proposes that the state should have oversight over these deals involving New Mexico hospitals and that the state should be able to hire third party experts to analyze these transactions to safeguard quality care and reasonable rates, and also to ensure that these buyers are not taking excessive profits out of the communities the hospitals are in.

Along with a summary of this bill, Ms. Wishner gave the students a run-down of what it will take to get it passed in the legislature. It is complex process that requires balancing the interests of a wide variety of competing groups, including the  governor, legislators, constituents, hospitals, other interest groups, local and national businesses, and so on. One aspect that makes this bill more palatable for some is that it contains a “sunset clause,” meaning that unless a new bill is proposed this one will expire in 16 months. So, even if it passes it still might only be a temporary change, but Ms. Wishner told the class, bills with sunset clauses are where we break ground and the necessary changes begin.

SB 15 was sponsored by Senator Katy Duhigg and Representative Reena Szczepanski. It passed both the Senate and House and is now on Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk for a final signature before it becomes law.