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2000 SESSION

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SB 320 Rural health care plan; establishment.

Introduced by: W. Roscoe Reynolds | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED SENATE: (all summaries)

Rural health. Requires the Commissioner of Health to submit to the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) an application to establish a Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program in Virginia. The Commissioner is also required to develop a rural health care plan for the Commonwealth. The rural health care plan must be developed and revised as necessary as may be required by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and amendments to its provisions. The plan has to be developed in cooperation and consultation with the Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association, representatives of rural hospitals, and experts within the Department of Health on rural health programs. The Commissioner may seek the assistance of the Virginia Health Planning Board and the regional health planning agencies in developing the plan. The plan must describe Virginia's commitment to designating critical access hospitals and whether Virginia wants to certify some facilities as "necessary providers" of health care in any rural area, including the process, methodology, and eligibility criteria for such designations or certifications. The plan must reflect local needs and resources and must include (as required by federal law) a mechanism for creating one or more rural health networks, ways to encourage rural health service regionalization, and initiatives to improve access to health services for rural Virginians.


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