First Louisiana Medicaid rate increase for substance-use disorder services in over a decade.
A Louisiana Policy Firm
Our Impact.
Results, not rhetoric.
Every claim on this page is a specific policy, funding, or regulatory outcome — not an adjective. Dollar figures, laws enacted, populations reached, districts covered.
State in the nation — after New York — to enact a virtual-currency business licensing framework, at our request on behalf of a client (Act 341, 2020).
Federal SBIR / STTR research awards secured by Louisiana firms in the five years after our innovation-fund advocacy — up from 54 in the prior five-year period.
First-in-the-nation prior authorization reform — Louisiana Act 706 of 2026 (HB 1154) bars insurers from requiring prior auth on generic prescriptions written by board-certified specialists in their specialty. Effective January 1, 2027.
First Louisiana Medicaid rate increase for substance-use disorder services in over a decade.
How to read this page
Financial Impact
Dollar figures, rate increases, funding secured or retained, rebates, tax incentives preserved, grant amounts.
Quality-of-Life Impact
Expanded access to care or services, populations reached, geographic and rural reach, safety outcomes.
Systemic & Milestone Impact
Firsts, task forces or standing bodies created, laws and frameworks enacted, tenure, statewide infrastructure.
§ 01 · Healthcare & Behavioral Health
Where most of our track record was built.
Outcomes across reimbursement and access — from a first-in-the-nation prior authorization reform to a $258.4M Medicaid physician parity increase.
Reimbursement & funding
Medicaid Rate Increase to 85% of Medicare
SFY 2025-26 — deployed physician advocacy critical to raising Louisiana Medicaid physician reimbursement from roughly 73% to 85% of Medicare, a 16.4% aggregate increase backed by $258.4M in new annual funding (effective July 1, 2025) — supporting pediatricians, primary care physicians, and an array of specialists.
Medicaid SUD Reimbursement — 25% Increase
Led the first increase to Louisiana Medicaid reimbursement rates for substance-use disorder services in more than a decade — a 25% rate increase effective October 1, 2024 (SFY 2025), reaching outpatient, inpatient, and criminal-justice-involved treatment settings.
Maternal Addiction Treatment Funding
Secured a stand-alone Medicaid funding code (SB 268 / Act 309, 2022 Regular Session), in partnership with the Louisiana Department of Health, dedicated to addiction treatment for pregnant women.
Behavioral Health Insurance Parity
Led the legislative effort to mandate parity in health insurance coverage for behavioral health services.
Psychiatric Collaborative Care Model
Secured mandated coverage for the psychiatric collaborative care model, funding primary-care practices — especially in rural areas — to add a social worker who coordinates with a psychiatrist on patient treatment plans.
Orphan Drug Coverage
Led efforts securing orphan-drug coverage at both the Louisiana and federal level, protecting funding and research for conditions affecting small patient populations.
Access & care expansion
First-in-the-Nation Prior Authorization Reform
Passed Louisiana Act 706 of 2026 (HB 1154) — the first reform of its kind in the nation — prohibiting commercial insurers from requiring prior authorization on generic prescriptions written by a board-certified specialist for a drug within their specialty (non-opioid, WAC ≤ $250). Effective for plans issued on or after January 1, 2027.
Social Work Interstate Compact
Passed Louisiana Act 791 of 2024 (HB 888), effective August 1, 2024 — adopting the Social Work Licensure Compact so Louisiana-licensed social workers can practice across member states, expanding the behavioral-health workforce for rural, telehealth, and military-family care.
Rare Disease Advisory Council
Created Louisiana's Rare Disease Advisory Council via Act 321 (HB 460, 2021 Regular Session) — codified at La. R.S. 40:1122.1 — making Louisiana the 18th state in the nation to establish one and giving rare-disease patients a permanent seat at the state policy table.
Telehealth Access
Built and expanded Louisiana's telehealth and telemedicine laws across multiple legislative sessions, extending physical and behavioral healthcare access to underserved and rural parishes. Clients on this work included statewide physician, psychiatric, social work, and speech-language / hearing associations.
Assertive Community Treatment Expansion
Advocated for the expansion of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams in Louisiana, growing mobile, in-community care for individuals living with co-occurring addiction and serious mental illness.
Reconstructive Surgery Access
Advocated for and supported the establishment of Louisiana's first stand-alone DIEP flap surgery center, expanding reconstructive-surgery access for breast cancer survivors.
Biomarker Testing Mandate
Passed a Louisiana mandate (2023 Act 324, amended by 2024 Act 160) requiring insurance coverage of biomarker testing — enabling earlier, more accurate diagnosis for cancer and other conditions.
Long-Term Personal Care Services
Helped secure approval of expanded long-term personal-care services, widening access to specialized in-home care for seniors living with epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease.
Newborn Screening Expansion
Advocated for adding Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I), and Pompe disease to Louisiana's Newborn Screening Panel, effective January 2022.
Community Reintegration
Facilitated a program transitioning individuals with serious mental illness out of state institutional care and back closer to family and community.
§ 01.5 · Financial Impact
Rate increases, funds preserved, and a decade-long wait ended.
Concrete dollar figures — not adjectives. Every bar and ring below is real, cross-referenced in the outcomes above.
Louisiana Medicaid physician parity · SFY 2025-26
Effective July 1, 2025
$258.4M
New annual funding
16.4%
Aggregate physician reimbursement increase
Supporting pediatricians, primary care physicians, and an array of specialists across Louisiana.
Medicaid SUD reimbursement · SFY 2025
25%
Years since previous SUD reimbursement update
10+
Mississippi rooftop-solar rebate · per household
$3,500
Healthcare outcomes · by category
- Reimbursement & funding6
- Access & care expansion10
New Orleans community-solar program
~7,800
Households benefiting
Council-approved community-solar program · 60-megawatt citywide pipeline.
Mississippi PSC net-metering rule
95+
Public school districts eligible
Solar via power-purchase agreements at zero upfront cost — first-in-state.
Louisiana Newborn Screening Panel
+3
Conditions added · effective Jan 2022
- Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)
- Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I)
- Pompe disease
Earlier diagnosis · earlier treatment · better outcomes for Louisiana infants.
§ 02 · Biomedical & Bioscience
Advocating for what Louisiana invents, not just what it regulates.
Federal SBIR / STTR research awards secured by Louisiana firms in the five years after our innovation-fund advocacy — up from 54 in the prior five-year period — including startups developing non-opioid pain therapies and advanced regenerative wound-care.
Bioscience Industry Advocacy
Advised the Louisiana bioscience-industry association whose member firms secured 145 federal SBIR / STTR awards in the five years following our innovation-fund advocacy — up from 54 in the prior five-year period — including homegrown startups developing novel non-opioid pain therapies and advanced regenerative wound-care technologies.
Small Business Innovation Grant Funds
Drafted and led direct advocacy for two companion 2022 Louisiana Acts creating the state's first Small Business Innovation Recruitment Fund (Act 477 / HB 795) and Retention Fund (Act 476 / HB 786) — matching-grant programs that recruit and retain small businesses receiving federal SBIR / STTR research grants.
R&D and Angel Investor Tax Credit Preservation
Successfully advocated to preserve and reinvigorate Louisiana's R&D Tax Credit and Angel Investor Tax Credit programs — key non-dilutive capital pathways that keep bioscience startups building in Louisiana.
Biomarker Testing Mandate (cross-referenced)
See Healthcare & Behavioral Health Policy — direct diagnostics and biotech policy relevance.
Orphan Drug Coverage (cross-referenced)
See Healthcare & Behavioral Health Policy — rare-disease and biotech funding relevance.
Louisiana Small Business Innovation Recruitment & Retention Funds — companion Acts 476 & 477 (2022) that we drafted and passed to match federal SBIR / STTR research grants for the state's bioscience pipeline.
New Orleans community-solar pipeline unlocked by the 2026 Council approval of the New Orleans community-solar program — an estimated 6,000–7,800 subscriber households benefiting.
Louisiana's first virtual-currency business licensing framework (HB 701, 2020) — enacted at our request on behalf of a client and administered through the Office of Financial Institutions.
§ 03 · Renewable Energy Policy
Advocacy that reaches beyond Louisiana's borders.
Four outcomes across the Gulf South — a rooftop-solar rebate program, a New Orleans community-solar program approval, a defended tax incentive, and school-district solar savings.
§ 04 · FinTech & Economic Development
First-mover policy work outside our core practice areas.
2020
Louisiana's First Virtual-Currency Licensing Framework
At Seersucker Strategies' request, on behalf of a client, state Rep. Mark Wright sponsored House Bill 701, which passed the Louisiana House unanimously and was signed into law as Act 341 — creating Louisiana's first licensing framework for virtual-currency businesses through the Office of Financial Institutions, and making Louisiana the second state in the nation (after New York) to adopt one.
2022
Small Business Innovation Grant Funds
Drafted and led direct advocacy for two companion Louisiana Acts creating the state's first Small Business Innovation Recruitment Fund (Act 477 / HB 795) and Small Business Innovation Retention Fund (Act 476 / HB 786) — matching-grant programs that recruit and retain small businesses receiving federal SBIR / STTR research grants, benefiting the state's bioscience-startup pipeline.
§ 05 · FAQ
Answers commonly asked about our track record.
What legislative wins has Seersucker Strategies achieved in Louisiana healthcare policy?
Recent wins include a $258.4M Medicaid physician-parity increase raising Louisiana Medicaid reimbursement from roughly 73% to 85% of Medicare (SFY 2025-26), a 25% Medicaid rate increase for substance-use disorder services — the first in over a decade — Louisiana's first-in-the-nation prior authorization reform (Act 706, 2026) for generic specialist prescriptions, expansion of telehealth access to rural and underserved parishes, and a mandate requiring insurance coverage of biomarker testing for earlier cancer diagnosis.
Has Seersucker Strategies worked on rare disease policy in Louisiana?
Yes. Founder Stephen Wright created Louisiana's Rare Disease Advisory Council (Act 321, 2021) — the state's permanent forum for rare-disease patient access — led the addition of Spinal Muscular Atrophy, MPS I, and Pompe disease to the state's Newborn Screening Panel, and led orphan-drug coverage efforts at the state and federal level.
Does Seersucker Strategies have experience with Medicaid reimbursement and behavioral health policy?
Yes. The firm deployed the physician advocacy critical to Louisiana's SFY 2025-26 Medicaid physician-parity increase — $258.4M in new annual funding raising reimbursement from ~73% to 85% of Medicare (a 16.4% aggregate increase). It also led the first Louisiana Medicaid reimbursement rate increase for substance-use disorder services in more than a decade (25%), secured a stand-alone Medicaid funding code for pregnant women in addiction treatment, and led the mandate for behavioral health insurance parity.
Has Seersucker Strategies worked on physician workforce and licensure policy?
Yes. Louisiana passed Act 791 of 2024 (HB 888), effective August 1, 2024, adopting the Social Work Licensure Compact — letting Louisiana-licensed social workers practice across member states and expanding the behavioral-health workforce for rural, telehealth, and military-family care.
Does Seersucker Strategies support Louisiana bioscience and biotech companies?
Yes. The firm advised the Louisiana bioscience-industry association whose member firms secured 145 federal SBIR / STTR research awards in the five years following our innovation-fund advocacy — up from 54 in the prior five-year period — including startups developing novel non-opioid pain therapies and advanced regenerative wound-care technologies. The firm led the state biomarker-testing insurance mandate, drafted and led advocacy for Louisiana's 2022 Small Business Innovation Recruitment and Retention Funds (Acts 476 & 477), and successfully advocated to preserve and reinvigorate Louisiana's R&D Tax Credit and Angel Investor Tax Credit programs — key non-dilutive capital pathways for bioscience startups.
Does Seersucker Strategies work on renewable energy policy?
Yes, across multiple Gulf South states. The firm represented clients central to a 2022 Mississippi Public Service Commission order creating that state's first rooftop solar rebate program, a related net-metering rule change letting Mississippi public school districts add solar at no upfront cost, the 2026 New Orleans City Council approval of the New Orleans community-solar program (a 60-megawatt pipeline), and the defeat of a 2022 Louisiana legislative push that would have stripped solar and wind projects of Industrial Tax Exemption Program eligibility.
Has Seersucker Strategies worked on financial technology or cryptocurrency policy in Louisiana?
Yes. At the firm's request, on behalf of a client, Louisiana enacted House Bill 701 (2020) as Act 341, creating the state's first licensing framework for virtual-currency businesses and making Louisiana the second state in the nation, after New York, to adopt one.
§ 01.6 · Quality-of-Life Reach
Who these outcomes actually touch.
Communities served, districts opened up, and diagnoses caught earlier — quantified in the units that matter.