Certified recovery residences. Requires every person who operates a recovery residence to disclose to potential residents whether the recovery residence is a certified recovery residence and that no health care provider or behavioral health service provider who receives public funds or state agency shall refer a person with substance abuse disorder to a recovery residence unless the recovery residence has been certified by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (the Department) in accordance with regulations adopted by the Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (the Board). The bill also provides that credentialing agencies by which the Board may require accreditation or in which the Board may require membership shall administer credentialing and certification programs in accordance with standards of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences; requires the Board to adopt regulations requiring each certified recovery residence include one or more resident or nonresident staff persons who is employed by the provider for compensation and who is responsible for oversight or management of the recovery residence; and requires the Department to provide, for each certified recovery residence included on the list maintained on the Department’s website the level of support provided by the certified recovery residence. The bill also provides that certified recovery residences shall constitute residential occupancy by a single family for zoning purposes, regardless of the number of persons residing in the certified recovery residence, and exempts certified recovery residences from the provisions of the Virginia Landlord and Tenant Act.
Sponsored bills
Public health emergency; hospital or nursing home; addition of beds. Creates an exemption from the requirement for a certificate of public need or a license for the temporary addition of beds located in a temporary structure or satellite location by a hospital or nursing home in cases in which the Board of Health or the Commissioner of Health (the Commissioner) has entered an emergency order for the purpose of suppressing a nuisance dangerous to public health or a communicable, contagious, or infectious disease or other danger to the public life and health, provided that the ability remains to safely staff services across the existing hospital or nursing home, and provides that such exemption shall apply for the duration of the emergency order plus 30 days. The bill also expands the duration of the existing exemption from the requirement for a certificate of public need or a license for the addition of temporary beds when the Commissioner has determined that a natural or man-made disaster has caused the evacuation of a hospital or nursing home and that a public health emergency exists due to a shortage of hospital or nursing home beds to the duration of such determination plus 30 days and makes clear that such exemption shall apply to the temporary addition of beds located in a temporary structure or satellite location by a hospital or nursing home. This bill is identical to HB 900.
Board of Pharmacy; prescription drug donation program; work group. Directs the Board of Pharmacy to convene a work group of interested stakeholders to evaluate any challenges and barriers to participation in the prescription drug donation program and ways to increase program participation, education, and outreach. The bill requires the work group to report its findings 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, 2022.
Potomac River Bridge Towing Compact. Adds the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge to the Potomac River bridges subject to the Potomac River Bridge Towing Compact to facilitate the prompt and orderly removal of disabled and abandoned vehicles from the bridges by giving the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia appropriate authority anywhere on the bridges. The effective date of this amendment to the Compact is contingent upon enactment of substantially similar legislation by the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia. The bill contains technical amendments. This bill incorporates SB 33. This bill is identical to HB 386.
Emergency custody and temporary detention; transportation; transfer of custody. Provides that, in cases in which transportation of a person subject to an emergency custody order is ordered to be provided by an alternative transportation provider, the primary law-enforcement agency that executes the order may transfer custody of the person to the alternative transportation provider immediately upon execution of the order, and the alternative transportation provider shall maintain custody of the person from the time custody is transferred to the alternative transportation provider by the primary law-enforcement agency until such time as an evaluation is conducted and custody is transferred pursuant to a temporary detention order or the person is released upon determination the person does not meet the criteria for temporary detention or custody of the person is transferred to the community services board or its designee that is responsible for conducting the evaluation. The bill also provides that in cases in which transportation of a person subject to a temporary detention order is ordered to be provided by an alternative transportation provider, the primary law-enforcement agency that executes the order may transfer custody of the person to the alternative transportation provider immediately upon execution of the order, and that the alternative transportation provider shall maintain custody of the person from the time custody is transferred to the alternative transportation provider by the primary law-enforcement agency until such time as custody of the person is transferred to the temporary detention facility. The bill also adds employees of and persons providing services pursuant to a contract with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to the list of individuals who may serve as alternative transportation providers.
Commonwealth Council on Aging; reports.Requires the Commonwealth Council on Aging to submit to the Governor,General Assembly, and Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Servicesby October 1 of each year an electronic report regarding the activitiesand recommendations of the Council.
Receipt of critically missing adult reports; Virginia Critically Missing Adult Alert Program; definition. Expands the definition of "critically missing adult" to include any missing adult, including an adult who has a developmental disability, intellectual disability, or mental illness, 18 years of age or older for the purpose of receipt of critically missing adult reports by a police or sheriff's department and the Virginia Critically Missing Adult Alert Program administered by the Department of State Police and removes from the Program the eligibility requirement that the adult is believed to have been abducted. This bill is identical to HB 1060.
Energy performance-based contracts; roof replacement. Allows procurement of a roof replacement as part of a larger energy conservation or operational efficiency measure if such replacement is either necessary for the installation of such measure or if the contracting entity determines that the replacement of more than 20 percent of the roof is necessary to install such measure. The bill requires any roof replacements not included in the original contract to be publicly noticed on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website. Such procurement shall be designed by a licensed architect or professional engineer.Current law prohibits the inclusion of a roof replacement project as part of an energy performance-based contract. This bill is identical to HB 1225.
Out-of-state health care practitioners; temporary authorization to practice; licensure by reciprocity for physicians; emergency. Allows a health care practitioner licensed in another state or the District of Columbia who has submitted an application for licensure to the appropriate health regulatory board to temporarily practice for a period of 90 days pending licensure, provided that certain conditions are met. The bill directs the Board of Medicine to pursue reciprocity agreements with jurisdictions that surround the Commonwealth to streamline the application process in order to facilitate the practice of medicine. The bill requires the Department of Health Professions to annually report to the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions the number of out-of-state health care practitioners who have utilized the temporary authorization to practice pending licensure and have not subsequently been issued full licensure. The bill contains an emergency clause and is identical to HB 1187.
Hospitals; financial assistance; payment plans. Requires hospitals to screen every uninsured patient, defined inthe bill, to determine the patient's household income and whetherthe individual is eligible for financial assistance under the hospital'sfinancial assistance plan; provides that no hospital shall requireany uninsured patient who is eligible for financial assistance underthe hospital's financial assistance plan and determined to have ahousehold income that is less than or equal to 200 percent of the federal poverty level to pay any amount for emergency medical care;requires every hospital to make a payment plan available for everyuninsured patient who is determined to be eligible for financialassistance pursuant to the hospital's financial assistance plan andcaps such payment at four percent of the patient's monthly householdincome; prohibits hospitals from engaging in extraordinary collection actions against an uninsured patient who owes a debt for medicalservices or the estate of a deceased person; and requires hospitalsto report data and information regarding charity care, discountedcare, and financial assistance provided under the hospital's financialassistance policy to the nonprofit organization with which the Departmentof Health has entered into a contract for the compilation, storage,analysis, and evaluation of data.