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1997 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 551
Expressing the sense of the General Assembly that the strategic plan submitted by Virginia Health Information and the initiatives contained therein be supported by this body.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 4, 1997
Agreed to by the Senate, February 19, 1997

WHEREAS, across the nation, both the public and private sectors have looked to health care cost and quality data reporting as a means of controlling health care costs and improving the quality of health care plans, providers and services; and

WHEREAS, it is important for health care consumers and purchasers to have useful information regarding health plans, providers and services in order to make informed health care decisions; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has actively supported efforts to collect, analyze and publish valid, reliable health care cost and quality data to provide useful information to consumers, businesses, insurers and providers; and

WHEREAS, a 1995 study by the Joint Commission on Health Care found that most of the health care cost and quality data reports published by the former Virginia Health Services Cost Review Council had little value in the marketplace and that there was duplication and overlap in the functions and duties of the Virginia Health Services Cost Review Council and the private, nonprofit health data organization (Virginia Health Information), which was responsible for collecting data for the patient level data base system; and

WHEREAS, legislation passed by the 1996 Session of the General Assembly: (i) eliminated the Virginia Health Services Cost Review Council and the reports found not to be useful in the marketplace, (ii) transferred responsibility for administering the remaining health care data reports to the nonprofit health data organization through a contract with the State Department of Health, (iii) included health plans and physicians in the definition of health care provider; (iv) required the nonprofit health data organization's board of directors to evaluate the continued need for and efficacy of current data initiatives, and (v) required the nonprofit health data organization's board of directors to submit strategic plans, as appropriate, to the Board of Health, the Governor, and the General Assembly recommending specific data projects to be undertaken and specifying the data elements required of health care providers; and

WHEREAS, the first such strategic plan was to be submitted by October 1, 1996, and was to include recommendations for measuring quality of care for all health care providers and for funding all data projects undertaken; and

WHEREAS, the State Department of Health contracted with Virginia Health Information to perform the tasks of the nonprofit health data organization as required in the Code of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors of Virginia Health Information, which is composed of representatives of businesses, consumers, physicians, nursing homes, health plans, and state government, developed its first strategic plan with considerable input from the interested stakeholders and in compliance with the provisions of § 32.1-276.4 B 6 of the Code of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Virginia Health Information's first strategic plan identifies a number of health data projects including: (i) expanding the patient level data system to include quality measures and health plan identifiers, (ii) continuing the efficiency and productivity methodology for hospitals and nursing homes and reviewing the efficacy of the methodology, (iii) developing general consumer publications on all provider types, (iv) developing consumer satisfaction measures for all types of health insurance plans, (v) publishing outcome information on obstetrics and cardiology services, (vi) developing potential uses of outpatient data, and (vii) forming a task force to develop a participative funding protocol to provide equitable funding by all stakeholders to fund data projects; and

WHEREAS, the President of Virginia Health Information's Board of Directors presented the strategic plan to the Joint Commission on Health Care at its October 24, 1996 meeting; and

WHEREAS, while some concerns were voiced regarding certain aspects of the strategic plan, overall, the public comments received by the Joint Commission on Health Care from interested parties and stakeholders indicated support for the strategic plan; and

WHEREAS, § 32.1-276.4 B 6 of the Code of Virginia requires the approval of the General Assembly prior to the implementation of any recommendations set forth in a strategic plan submitted by the nonprofit health data organization; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly support the strategic plan submitted by Virginia Health Information and the initiatives contained therein; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit copies of this resolution to the Governor, the Board of Health, the Commissioner of Health, and the President of Virginia Health Information in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly in this matter.