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2022 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 32.1-330.2 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 32.1-330.2. Medicaid managed care programs; program information documents; plain language required.
A. Whenever medical assistance services pursuant to this
chapter are furnished through managed care programs, the As used in this
section, "program information" means all forms of communication that
(i) are provided to any person who is eligible for or a recipient of medical
assistance services provided by the Commonwealth pursuant to Titles XIX and
XXI of the Social Security Act and (ii) describe medical assistance services
available to and the rights and responsibilities of recipients of medical
assistance services provided by the Commonwealth pursuant to Titles XIX and XXI
of the Social Security Act.
B. The Board of Medical Assistance Services shall
require that all program information documents furnished recipients covered
thereunder shall be written (i) communicated in nontechnical,
readily understandable, plain language, using words of common,
everyday usage and (ii) made available in a manner that is accessible to
(a) individuals with limited English proficiency through the provision of
language access services, including oral interpretation and written
translations, and (b) individuals with disabilities through the provision of
auxiliary aids services, when doing so is a reasonable step to providing
meaningful access to health care coverage. A person that makes program
information available may consider resources, including staffing, available to
such person and the cost of responding to requests for language access or
auxiliary aids services in determining the reasonableness of making program
information available pursuant to this subsection.
C. Language access services and auxiliary aids services provided to ensure program information is accessible to individuals with limited English proficiency and individuals with disabilities shall be provided without charge to such individuals. Information regarding how to receive language access services and auxiliary aids services shall be included with program information documents on a website maintained by the Department and on the website of every state agency that provides program information.
B. Each sponsor or administrator of any such managed care
program D. Every person that provides program information shall
use an objective readability measure approved by the Department to test the
readability of its program information documents by use of the Flesch
Readability Formula, as set forth in Rudolf Flesch, The Art of Readable Writing
(1949, as revised 1974), and no program information document shall be used
unless it achieves a Flesch total readability score of forty or more. The
requirements of this subsection shall not apply to language which
that is mandated by federal or state laws, regulations, or agencies.
C. E. All program information documents within
the scope of this section, and all amendments thereto, shall be filed with
made available for review upon the request of the Department of Medical
Assistance Services in advance of their use and distribution, accompanied by
certificates setting forth the Flesch scores and certifying compliance with the
requirements of this section. Any program information document which
that is exempt from the requirements of subsection B shall be accompanied
by a documentation of the federal or state law, regulation, or agency
mandate that authorizes the exemption.
D. For the purpose of this section, the term "program
information documents" means all forms, brochures, handbooks or other
documentation (i) provided recipients covered under Medicaid managed care
programs, and (ii) describing the programs' medical care coverages and the
rights and responsibilities of recipients covered thereunder. Further, the term
"recipient" shall include potential recipients and recipients.