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2018 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Health

Cosgrove (Chairman), Black, Barker, Lewis, Suetterlein

Clerk: Patty Lung
Staff: Thomas Stevens
Date of Meeting: January 23, 2018
Time and Place: 4:00 p.m. - Senate Subcommittee Room 2, 5th Floor

S.B. 225

Patron: Stanley

Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Council; opioid addiction treatment pilot. Establishes the Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Council (Council) as an advisory council in the executive branch. The bill requires the Council to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the agencies within his secretariat on health care reforms designed to increase access to and improve outcomes of treatment and recovery services for opioid addiction and opioid-related disorders through the use of a patient-centered medical home system.

The bill also requires the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, in partnership with community services boards, a hospital licensed in the Commonwealth, and telemedicine networks, to establish a two-year pilot program in Planning District 12 designed to provide comprehensive treatment and recovery services to uninsured or underinsured individuals suffering from opioid addiction or opioid-related disorders. The bill requires the Department and its partners to collaborate with the Patient-Centered Medical Home Advisory Council to develop the pilot program.

S.B. 309

Patron: Cosgrove

Electronic Death Registration System; implementation. Requires the Division of Vital Records and the Department of Health to work with any teaching hospital that is located in the Commonwealth and associated with a public institution of higher education or medical school to fully implement, by April 15, 2018, the Electronic Death Registration System. The bill requires such hospitals to utilize the system for all deaths occurring within any such hospital's facilities. The bill requires the Division of Vital Records to report on the implementation to the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committees on Finance and Education and Health by April 15, 2018. The bill contains an emergency clause.

EMERGENCY

S.B. 310

Patron: DeSteph

Department of Medical Assistance Services; eligibility for services under waiver. Prohibits the Department of Medical Assistance Services from reducing, terminating, suspending, or denying services for an individual enrolled in a waiver who is otherwise eligible for such services on the basis of such individual's informed choice of place of residence in the Commonwealth.

S.B. 329

Patron: Dunnavant

Clinics for the treatment of opioid addiction; location. Provides that the prohibition on locating clinics for the treatment of persons with opiate addiction through the use of methadone or opioid replacements other than opioid replacements approved for the treatment of opioid addiction by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within one-half mile of a public or private licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school shall not apply to an applicant for a license to operate in its current location or to relocate an existing facility when the facility is currently located within one-half mile of a public or private licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school in the City of Richmond, has been licensed and operated as a facility to provide treatment for persons with opiate addiction through the use of methadone or other opioid replacements by another provider immediately prior to submission of the application for a license, and, upon issuance of the license, will be operated by a behavioral health authority.

S.B. 357

Patron: McClellan

Death certificates; electronic filing required. Requires a death certificate, for each death that occurs in the Commonwealth, to be electronically filed with the State Registrar. Under current law, death certificates may be filed electronically or nonelectronically.

S.B. 389

Patron: Chafin

Substance-exposed infants; plan for services. Provides that the Department of Health shall serve as the lead agency with responsibility for the development, coordination, and implementation of a plan for services for substance-exposed infants in the Commonwealth. Such plan shall (i) support a trauma-informed approach to identification and treatment of substance-exposed infants and their caregivers and (ii) include (a) options for improving screening and identification of substance-using pregnant women, (b) use of multidisciplinary approaches to intervention and service delivery during the prenatal period and following the birth of the substance-exposed child, and (c) referral among providers serving substance-exposed infants and their families and caregivers.

S.B. 399

Patron: Lewis

Local or regional drug overdose fatality review teams. Authorizes any county or city, or any combination of counties, cities, or counties and cities, to establish a local or regional drug overdose fatality review team for the purpose of (i) conducting contemporaneous reviews of local drug overdose deaths, (ii) promoting cooperation and coordination among agencies involved in investigations of drug overdose deaths or in providing services to surviving family members, (iii) developing an understanding of the causes and incidence of drug overdose deaths in the locality, (iv) developing plans for and recommending changes within the agencies represented on the local team to prevent drug overdose deaths, and (v) advising the Department of Health and other relevant state agencies on changes to law, policy, or practice to prevent overdose deaths. The bill authorizes a local or regional team to review the death of any person who resides in the Commonwealth and whose death was or is suspected to be due to drug overdose. A violation of the confidentiality of the review process is punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor.

S.B. 417

Patron: Barker

Community health workers; certification. Requires the Department of Health to approve one or more entities to certify community health workers in the Commonwealth and prohibits a person from using or assuming the title of community health worker unless he is certified by an entity approved by the Department.

S.B. 455

Patron: McClellan

Clinics for the treatment of opioid addiction; location. Provides that the prohibition on locating clinics for the treatment of persons with opiate addiction through the use of methadone or opioid replacements other than opioid replacements approved for the treatment of opioid addiction by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within one-half mile of a public or private licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school shall not apply to an applicant for a license to operate in its current location an existing facility when the facility is currently located within one-half mile of a public or private licensed day care center or a public or private K-12 school in the City of Richmond, has been licensed and operated as a facility to provide treatment for persons with opiate addiction through the use of methadone or other opioid replacements by another provider immediately prior to submission of the application for a license, and, upon issuance of the license, will be operated by a behavioral health authority.

S.B. 461

Patron: Dance

Direct service providers; disclosure of information by employers. Provides that a current or former employer of a direct service provider may disclose information about the direct service provider's employment to a prospective employer of the direct service provider upon receipt of written, signed consent of the direct service provider and establishes requirements related to such written consent.

S.B. 670

Patron: Deeds

Mental health awareness training; firefighters and emergency medical services personnel. Requires fire departments and emergency medical services agencies to develop curricula for mental health awareness training for their personnel. The bill provides that such personnel who receive the training shall receive appropriate continuing education credits.

S.B. 703

Patron: Ruff

Out-of-state emergency medical services providers. Authorizes an emergency medical services provider who holds a valid license or certification in a state that borders the Commonwealth to provide emergency medical services in the Commonwealth if such services are provided at a widely attended event open to the public and, due to the expected number of attendees, the anticipated need for emergency medical services at the event is beyond the capacity of local emergency medical services providers. The bill requires that notice and certain information be provided to the Commissioner of Health. The bill provides that any out-of-state emergency medical services provider who holds a license or certification in a state that has entered into an interstate compact of which the Commonwealth is a member or any other interstate agreement with the Commonwealth regarding emergency medical services providers will be governed by the provisions of such compact or agreement.

S.B. 804

Patron: Carrico

Reporting of controlled substance overdoses. Requires the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, state and local law-enforcement agencies, emergency medical services agencies, and hospitals to report information about overdoses of controlled substances within 120 hours of receiving such information to the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and for the Secretary to make such information available to public health, law-enforcement, and emergency medical service agencies and fire departments and companies within 120 hours of receiving the information. The bill also requires the Secretary to report this information quarterly to the Governor and for such report to be made available to all public health, law-enforcement, and emergency medical services agencies in the Commonwealth. The bill is a recommendation of the Joint Commission on Health.