HB 5389 — AN ACT CONCERNING A PROVIDER TOOLKIT FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MENOPAUSE, PERIMENOPAUSE AND POSTMENOPAUSE.

House of Representatives General Assembly FileSubstitute Bill No.

1145389 February Session, 2026 SubstituteAN HouseACT BillCONCERNING No.A PROVIDER TOOLKIT FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MENOPAUSE, PERIMENOPAUSE AND POSTMENOPAUSE.

5389 House of Representatives, March 23, 2026 The Committee on Public Health reported through REP.

MCCARTHY VAHEY of the 133rd Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the House, that the substitute bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING A PROVIDER TOOLKIT FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MENOPAUSE, PERIMENOPAUSE AND POSTMENOPAUSE.

(NEW) (Effective October 1, 2026) (a) The Department of Public Health, in consultation with The University of Connecticut Health Center's Health Disparities Institute, persons who have experienced symptoms of perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause, and health care providers who treat persons with symptoms of perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause, shall develop a toolkit that provides practical, evidence-based and culturally appropriate guidance to health care providers in the state who are responsible for diagnosing or treating persons with symptoms of menopause, perimenopause or postmenopause, as determined by the commissioner, including, but not limited to, health care providers in the fields of obstetrics, gynecology, internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, psychiatry, mental health, social work, dentistry, sHB5389dental /hygiene Fileand No.community health, regarding best practices for screening, identification, clinical assessment, diagnosis and treatment of symptoms of menopause, perimenopause and postmenopause.

114Such guidance shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) a comprehensive description of the symptoms of menopause, perimenopause and LCO 1 sHB5389of File2 Substitute Bill No.

1145389 dentalpostmenopause, hygiene(2) evidence-based guidelines regarding the identification and communitytreatment health,of regardingsuch bestsymptoms, practicesincluding, forbut screening,not identification,limited clinicalto, assessment,the diagnosisuse of hormones, such as hormone replacement therapy and treatmenttestosterone oftherapy, symptoms(3) the availability of menopause,insurance perimenopausecoverage for such therapies, and postmenopause.(4) short education modules regarding such guidance that would qualify as continuing education for such health care providers.

Such guidance shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) a comprehensive description of the symptoms of menopause, perimenopause and postmenopause, (2) evidence-based guidelines regarding the identification and treatment of such symptoms, including, but not limited to, the use of hormones, such as hormone replacement therapy and testosterone therapy, (3) the availability of insurance coverage for such therapies, and (4) short education modules regarding such guidance that would qualify as continuing education for such health care providers.

sHB5389APP /Joint FileFavorable No.LCO 2 of 2

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114 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.

In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $ Public Health, Dept.

GF - Cost Up to 25,000 140,000 Note:

GF=General Fund Municipal Impact:

None Explanation The bill requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to develop a menopause toolkit, resulting in a General Fund cost of up to $140,000 to the Other Expenses account in FY 27 and $25,000 annually thereafter.

DPH currently lacks staff with the necessary subject matter expertise, requiring the services of a healthcare consultant for approximately $110,000 in FY 27 to create toolkit and continuing education video content.Theagencywouldalsocontractgraphicdesignservices,costing up to $20,000 in FY 27, to aid in the design of the toolkit materials and an associated webpage.

An additional one-time cost of up to $10,000 is anticipated to producethecontinuing educationvideotraining modules with interactive components.

Ongoing expenses include approximately $22,000 in FY 28 and annually thereafter for a healthcare consultant to continually update the toolkit, as well as approximately $3,000 to host the virtual education training modules into the out years.

The Out Years sHB5389 / File No.

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114 The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation.

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114 OLR Bill Analysis sHB 5389 AN ACT CONCERNING A PROVIDER TOOLKIT FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MENOPAUSE, PERIMENOPAUSE AND POSTMENOPAUSE.

SUMMARY This bill requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to develop a menopause toolkit that provides practical, evidence-based, and culturally appropriate guidance on best practices for screening, identifying, clinically assessing, diagnosing, and treating symptoms of perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause.

Under the bill, the toolkit is for Connecticut health care providers who diagnose or treat people with symptoms of these conditions, as the DPH commissioner determines, including those in the fields of obstetrics, gynecology, family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine, psychiatry, mental health, social work, dentistry, dental hygiene, and community health.

DPH must develop the toolkit in consultation with UConn Health Center’s Health Disparities Institute, people who have experienced symptoms of these conditions, and providers who treat them.

The guidance must at least include:

1.

acomprehensivedescriptionofthesymptomsofperimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause;

2.

evidence-based guidelines for identifying and treating these symptoms, including hormone replacement therapy and testosterone therapy;

3.

available insurance coverage for the therapies;

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