SB 342

As introduced: - Requires insurers and other health care entities to institute site-neutral payments for outpatient services and equal reimbursement rates for providers within the same geographic region. - Prohibits a health carrier from using a software tool, including artificial intelligence, to automatically downcode or deny a health insurance claim without a review by a clinical peer. - Creates a rebuttable presumption that a health service is medically necessary when ordered by a provider in the highest tier of a carrier's tiered network during a utilization review. - Expands restrictions on the use of step therapy to include drugs for the treatment of disabling or life-threatening chronic diseases.