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1999 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 656
Directing the Joint Commission on Health Care to evaluate ways the Commonwealth can adopt Medicaid and state employee insurance reimbursement policies to improve medical education experiences in prenatal and obstetrical care.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 7, 1999
Agreed to by the Senate, February 18, 1999

WHEREAS, Virginia’s medical schools have traditionally provided most of the prenatal and obstetrical care for indigent and Medicaid patients; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has significantly increased Medicaid reimbursements to participating physicians and hospitals and extended eligibility criteria to serve more pregnant women in the last several years; and

WHEREAS, physicians and nurse midwives in the private sector are serving more indigent and Medicaid pregnant women; and

WHEREAS, our medical schools, together with community-based family practice and obstetrical residency programs, have fewer appropriate opportunities to educate and train medical students, nurse midwifery students, and family practice and obstetrical residents in obstetrics; and

WHEREAS, many physicians and midwives in the private sector who render obstetrical care do not teach medical students, residents, and midwifery students; and

WHEREAS, many of Virginia’s family practice and obstetrical training programs will be facing difficulty in the near future maintaining their academic accreditation through the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) due to the low number of educational experiences; and

WHEREAS, it is advantageous to the citizens of Virginia to have highly trained new physicians and nurse midwives in prenatal and obstetrical care in the future; and

WHEREAS, modifications to the Medicaid reimbursement and state health insurance policies to include family practice and obstetrical residents and nurse midwifery students under certain conditions may help meet the educational needs of future obstetricians and assist the medical schools in maintaining their accreditation through improvements in medical education and learning opportunities in prenatal and obstetrical care; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Joint Commission on Health Care be directed to evaluate ways the Commonwealth can adopt Medicaid and state employee insurance reimbursement policies to improve medical education experiences in prenatal and obstetrical care. In its deliberations, the Joint Commission shall (i) assess the needs and problems of each medical school’s obstetrical and family practice training programs and (ii) request the assistance of and confer with the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians, the Virginia Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Nurse Midwives, the Department of Medical Assistance Services, the Department of Personnel and Training, and the State Health Department.

The Joint Commission shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 2000 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.