Long-term care services and supports; preadmission screenings. Provides that every individual who applies for or requests community or institutional long-term services and supports, as defined in the state plan for medical assistance services, may choose to receive services in a community or institutional setting and may choose the setting and provider of long-term care services and supports from a list of approved providers. The bill also clarifies requirements related to the performance of such long-term care services and supports screenings. The bill removes the definition of and references to Pre-PACE. The bill directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to consider alternative assessment tools for long-term services and supports screenings completed on or after July 1, 2021, and to report its findings and conclusions to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by December 1, 2020. The provisions of the bill shall not become effective if they conflict with any provision of federal law or regulations or guidance issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This bill is identical to SB 902.
Del. Mark Sickles
Sponsored bills
Practice of chiropractic; definition. Clarifies the definition of "practice of chiropractic" to make clear that a doctor of chiropractic may (i) request, receive, and review a patient's medical and physical history, including information related to past surgical and nonsurgical treatment of the patient and controlled substances prescribed to the patient, and (ii) document in a patient's record information related to the condition and symptoms of the patient, the examination and evaluation of the patient made by the doctor of chiropractic, and the treatment provided to the patient by the doctor of chiropractic.
Certificate of public need. Revises the Medical CareFacilities Certificate of Public Need Program. The bill (i) removes from thelist of reviewable medical care facilities specialized centers or clinics orthat portion of a physician's office developed for the provision oflithotripsy, magnetic source imaging, or nuclear medicine imaging; (ii) removesfrom the definition of project introduction into an existing medical carefacility of any new lithotripsy, magnetic source imaging, or obstetricalservice that the facility has never provided or has not provided in theprevious 12 months and addition by an existing medical care facility of anymedical equipment for the provision of lithotripsy and magnetic source imaging;(iii) creates a new process for registration of projects exempted from thedefinition of project by the bill; (iv) renames the State Medical FacilitiesPlan as the State Health Services Plan and establishes a State Health ServicesPlan task force to provide recommendations related to the content of the StateHealth Services Plan; (v) clarifies the content of the application for acertificate; (vi) reduces the timeline for a person to be made party to thecase for good cause from 80 calendar days to four days following completion ofthe review and submission of recommendations related to an application; (vii)requires the Commissioner of Health to condition issuance of a certificate uponthe agreement of the applicant to provide care to individuals who are eligiblefor benefits under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1395 etseq.), Title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.), and 10U.S.C. § 1071 et seq. and permits the Commissioner to condition the issuance ofa certificate on the agreement of the applicant to provide specialty medicalservices or to pay assessments or make contributions into the Health CareCoverage Assessment Fund, in addition to existing options for conditioningcertificates; (viii) requires every certificate holder to develop a financialassistance policy that includes specific eligibility criteria and proceduresfor applying for charity care, which shall be provided to a patient at the timeof admission or discharge or at the time services are provided, included with anybilling statements sent to uninsured patients, posted conspicuously in publicareas of the medical care facility for which the certificate was issued andposted on a website maintained by the certificate holder; (ix) eliminates thata person willfully fail, refuse, or neglect to comply with a plan of correctionto be subject to a civil penalty so that any failure, refusal, or neglecting tocomply with a plan of correction may subject the person to a civil penalty; and(x) provides that the Commissioner may consider any changes in thecircumstances of the certificate holder resulting from changes in the financingor delivery of health care services, including changes to the Commonwealth'sprogram of medical assistance services, and any other specific circumstances ofthe certificate holder when determining whether conditions imposed on acertificate continue to be appropriate. The bill also (a) directs the Department of Health to developrecommendations to reduce the duration of the average review cycle for applicationsfor certificates of public need to not more than 120 days and to report on itsrecommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than December1, 2020, and (b) directs the Secretary of Health and Human Resources toimplement a system to ensure that data needed to evaluate whether anapplication for a certificate is consistent with the State Health Services Planis timely and reliable; to make all public records pertaining to applicationsfor certificates and the review process available in real time in a searchable,digital format online; to make an inventory of capacity authorized bycertificates of public need, both operational and not yet operational,available in a digital format online; and to establish a public education andoutreach program designed to improve public awareness of the certificate ofpublic need process and the public's role in such process by January 1, 2021.
State Board of Elections; increasing membershipand terms; Commissioner of Elections; role and eligibility; report. Increases the membership of the State Board of Elections from threemembers to five members and increases the terms of Board membersfrom four years to five years. Representation is given to each ofthe political parties having the highest and next highest numberof votes in the Commonwealth at the preceding gubernatorial election,with three Board members being of the party of the Governor. Termsare initially staggered. The bill provides that a Commissioner ofElections, who acts as the principal administrative officer of the Department of Elections, shall be appointed by the Governor. Personsengaging in certain partisan activities, persons related to persons engaging in certain partisan activities, and persons related to membersof the State Board are prohibited from serving as the Commissionerof Elections.
Prohibited discrimination; public accommodations, employment, credit, and housing: causes of action; sexual orientation and gender identity. Creates explicit causes of action for unlawful discrimination in public accommodations and employment in the Virginia Human Rights Act. Currently, under the Act there is no cause of action for discrimination in public accommodations, and the only causes of action for discrimination in employment are for (i) unlawful discharge on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, including lactation, by employers employing more than five but fewer than 15 persons and (ii) unlawful discharge on the basis of age by employers employing more than five but fewer than 20 persons. The bill allows the causes of action to be pursued privately by the aggrieved person or, in certain circumstances, by the Attorney General. The bill prohibits discrimination in public and private employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill also codifies for state and local government employment the current prohibitions on discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, or status as a veteran. Additionally, the bill (a) prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a veteran; (b) prohibits discrimination in credit on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, disability, and status as a veteran; and (c) adds discrimination on the basis of an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a veteran as an unlawful housing practice. The bill makes technical amendments. This bill incorporates HB 3, HB 21, HB 23, HB 217, HB 1050, HB 1200, and HB 1512.
Absentee voting; deadline for returning absentee ballot. Provides that any absentee ballot that is returned to the general registrar after the closing of the polls on election day but before noon on the third day after the election and postmarked on or before the date of the election shall be counted if the voter is found entitled to vote. This bill contains technical amendments and is identical to SB 455.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Grant Program; creation. Creates the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Grant Program to make grant payments to an eligible pharmaceutical manufacturer that makes a capital investment of at least $1 billion at a facility in Rockingham County and creates at least 152 new full-time jobs at the facility. The pharmaceutical manufacturer would be eligible for an aggregate of $7.5 million in grants paid out over a three-year period if it meets such performance parameters. The bill also makes available, subject to appropriation, $2.525 million to a comprehensive community college and baccalaureate public institution of higher education in or near Rockingham County to support the workforce development needs of the manufacturer and other research and development companies in the area. This bill is identical to SB 610.
Local electoral boards; terms to begin January 1. Provides for terms of local electoral board members to begin on January 1. If the results of an election have not been certified by the board or a recount of an election has not concluded, the term will expire at midnight on the day the results are certified or the recount is concluded, instead of December 31. Under current law, terms begin March 1.
Absentee voting; deadline for applying for an absentee ballot to cast other than in person. Adjusts the deadline for a voter to apply for an absentee ballot that is to be cast by mail from the seventh day prior to the election to the eleventh day prior to the election. The bill also adjusts the deadline for applications for multiple elections for uniformed and overseas voters and for emergency applications and absentee ballots for persons incapacitated or hospitalized.
Banks; trust subsidiaries. Establishes amechanism by which a subsidiary bank of a Virginia bank holding companythat holds trust powers may be substituted in every fiduciary capacityfor a trust subsidiary under common ownership with that bank. Suchmechanism follows the existing procedures by which (i) a subsidiarybank may be substituted as fiduciary for another bank under commonownership and (ii) a trust subsidiary may be substituted as fiduciaryfor an owning or affiliated bank. In each case, the determinationas to whether the application for substitution will be granted is made by the circuit court of the jurisdiction in which the main officeof the petitioning bank or trust subsidiary is located.