Sen. George Barker

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable BernardS. Cohen.

Celebrating the life of the Honorable AugustusBenton Chafin, Jr.

Commending the Honorable Steven Selwyn Smith.

Commending the Honorable Bruce D. White.

Commending the Honorable Kimberly J. Daniel.

Commending the Honorable Janine M. Saxe.

Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services;Department of State Police; mobile applications; mental health and publicsafety. Requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services(DBHDS) to develop or obtain a mental health mobile application to facilitatethe provision of crisis intervention services by licensed clinicians toindividuals in the Commonwealth through calls, texts, and online chat portals.The bill requires the mobile application to be integrated with the crisisintervention phone hotline administered by a third-party provider undercontract with the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) and requiresDMAS to provide DBHDS with data and other information necessary to ensure suchintegration. The Secretary of Health and Human Resources is directed topromote, market, and advertise the use of such application.The bill also requires the Department of State Police, incoordination with the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center, to (i) develop orobtain a public safety mobile application to enable individuals in theCommonwealth to furnish confidential tips to the Department of State Policethrough text, audio, images, or video concerning a suspected, anticipated, orcompleted criminal violation or a school-related safety concern and (ii)develop a referral system to ensure that such confidential tips are referred tothe appropriate law-enforcement agency, school board, threat assessment team,or other relevant entity. The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Securityis directed to promote, market, and advertise the use of such application.The bill directs DBHDS and the Department of State Police tocoordinate the development or procurement of one comprehensive mobileapplication or separate mobile applications.

Health insurance; provider contracts; business practices;penalties. Prohibits a carrier from unilaterally amending a providercontract or any material provision, addenda, schedule, exhibit, or policy thereto,as it relates to any material provision that was agreed to or accepted by theprovider in the previous 12-month period. The measure requires such anamendment to be agreed to by the provider in a signed written amendment to theprovider contract. The measure defines a material provision of a providercontract as any policy manual, coverage guideline, edit, multiple procedurelogic, or audit procedure that (i) decreases the provider's payment orcompensation, (ii) limits an enrollee's access to covered services under hishealth plan, or (iii) changes the administrative procedures applicable to aprovider contract in a way that may reasonably be expected to significantlyincrease the provider's administrative expense. The measure requires carriers topermit a provider to determine the carrier's policies regarding the use ofedits or multiple procedure logic. The measure requires carriers to provide,for each health plan in which the provider participates or is proposed toparticipate, a complete fee schedule for all health care services includedunder the provider contract with the provider in writing and to make themavailable in machine-readable electronic format. The measure requires carriersto permit a provider a minimum of one year from the date a health care serviceis rendered to submit a claim for payment. The measure also (a) requires theState Corporation Commission to assist providers and to examine and investigateprovider complaints and inquiries relating to an alleged or suspected failure bya carrier to comply with required minimum fair business standards, (b) requiresthe Commission to provide a determination of whether a carrier has failed tocomply with these standards within 60 days of receipt of a provider's complaintor inquiry, (c) authorizes the Commission to determine whether a person'spractices comply with these standards, (d) subjects a person that refuses orfails to provide information in a timely manner to the Commission toenforcement and penalty provisions, and (e) authorizes the Commission to imposepenalties or issue a cease and desist order to a carrier that fails to complywith these standards.

Motion picture theaters; required open-captionedshowings. Requires any motion picture theater that has four ormore separate auditoriums to provide two scheduled showings of amotion picture that engages open captions for a particular showingof an open-captioned-available motion picture each week in any auditoriumshowing any open-captioned-available motion picture. The measurerequires one showing in each auditorium to be during peak weekendmotion picture attendance hours, and at least half of the other open-captionedshowings to be during peak weekday motion picture attendance hours.If any auditorium is showing more than one motion picture during aweek, the theater may select the motion picture to offer as open-captionedshowings, but shall show a different motion picture on the weekendthan it shows during the week. The measure prohibits a theater fromproviding more than one open-captioned showing at overlapping timesunless the theater has more auditoriums than available showtimes.Persons suffering loss or injury resulting from a violation may bringan action to recover damages and reasonable attorney fees or injunctiverelief.