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Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2017 SESSION
17101938DWHEREAS, the Commonwealth has a constitutional obligation to provide adequate medical care to inmates of prisons and jails in the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, medical services in jails and prisons may be provided through contracts with providers of prison service generally or health care services specifically or directly through state employees providing health care services at prison and jail facilities; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Corrections establishes minimum standards for contracts for health services for prisons, and the Board of Corrections establishes minimum standards for contracts for health services for jails; and
WHEREAS, oversight of implementation of contracts for health services is decentralized, and the quality of health care services delivered pursuant to such contracts is inconsistent across the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, failure to provide adequate health care services to inmates in jails and prisons may have significant consequences up to and including the death of the inmate; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Commission on Health Care be directed to study the quality of health care services provided to inmates in jails and prisons in the Commonwealth.
In conducting its study, the Joint Commission on Health Care shall (i) review the requirements for delivery of health care services in jails and prisons; (ii) review the oversight of health care service delivery in jails and prisons, including the process for the development and implementation of performance measures and oversight and enforcement of contracts for the delivery of health care services in jails and prisons; (iii) evaluate the current quality of health care services delivered in jails and prisons; and (iv) develop recommendations for improving the quality of health care services delivered in jails and prisons in the Commonwealth.
Technical assistance shall be provided to the Joint Commission on Health Care by the Department of Corrections and the Board of Corrections. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Joint Commission on Health Care for this study, upon request.
The Joint Commission on Health Care shall complete its meetings for the first year by November 30, 2017, and for the second year by November 30, 2018, and the chairman shall submit to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems an executive summary of its findings and recommendations no later than the first day of the next Regular Session of the General Assembly for each year. Each executive summary shall state whether the Joint Commission on Health Care intends to submit to the General Assembly and the Governor a report of its findings and recommendations for publication as a House or Senate document. The executive summaries and reports shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website.