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1998 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 139
Directing the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study the effectiveness of Virginia's health regulatory boards.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 12, 1998
Agreed to by the Senate, March 10, 1998

WHEREAS, Virginia's health regulatory boards regulate a number of professions, including medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, podiatry, physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, pharmacy, nursing, dentistry, the practice of physician assistants, and other health professions; and

WHEREAS, the activities of the health regulatory boards are intense, requiring significant disciplinary investigations and hearings, as well as the processing of applications for licensure; and

WHEREAS, the advent and growth of the managed care industry has resulted and will continue to result in significant changes in the paradigm of health care; and

WHEREAS, the health regulatory boards' authority to regulate remains more administrative and quasi-judicial than focused on quality assurance; and

WHEREAS, the time and resources of the health regulatory boards may be becoming stretched to meet their extensive disciplinary case load; and

WHEREAS, because of the limits on time and resources, the health regulatory boards' ability to provide careful and in-depth evaluation of their disciplinary cases, while providing a licensure program designed to ensure that Virginia has high quality practitioners, may be taxed; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission be directed to study the effectiveness of Virginia's health regulatory boards. In its study, the Commission shall include: (i) an evaluation of the composition of the respective boards to determine their appropriateness vis-a-vis the evolving duties and responsibilities for health profession regulation; (ii) an assessment of the respective boards' appropriate roles in ensuring the qualifications of physicians and other health care professionals in this Commonwealth; and (iii) an evaluation of the respective boards' authority and activities to establish standards for high quality health care delivery by physicians and other health professionals in Virginia.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Commission, upon request.

The Commission shall complete its work in time to submit an interim report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than January 1, 1999, and shall submit a final report to the Governor and the General Assembly no later than January 1, 2000, as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.