Legislative Update - September 2020

By Lauren Schmitt
Commonwealth Strategy Group

2020 has been an eventful year in all aspects, including the legislative arena. While the regular 2020 General Assembly session adjourned in March, a lot has happened since then as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the legislature returned for the Reconvened Session in April, they voted to freeze all new spending that had been included in the budget passed in March.

On August 18, the General Assembly returned for a special legislative session focused on the budget, COVID-19 and criminal justice reform. It is unclear how long they will be in session, but it will likely be several weeks.

Several healthcare related bills have been introduced during the special session. Read below for a brief recap of the top issues we’re working on currently:

Telemedicine
VOS worked with the Medical Society of Virginia and other specialty physician groups to advocate for legislation that would make many of the telehealth policies allowed because of COVID permanent. Senator George Barker and Delegate Dawn Adams introduced bills that do the following:

Prohibit health plans from requiring a provider to use proprietary technology or applications offered by the health plan in order to be reimbursed for telemedicine services
Directs the Department of Medical Assistance Services to reimburse providers for Medicaid-covered services delivered via audio-only equipment and by telemedicine services, as described in guidance issued by DMAS on March 1, 2020 that is in effect until July 1, 2021.
Reimburses for telemedicine services regardless of the originating site of care.

Nurse Practitioners
Governor Northam issued an Executive Order in April that allowed nurse practitioners to practice without a practice agreement after only two years of clinical experience. The physician community opposed this measure and expressed our disappointment to the Governor’s office. It came as no surprise when legislation was introduced in the special session to make this permanent and allow nurse practitioners to practice independently after only two years. We advocated against this bill and were pleased that it died in the Senate Education and Health committee. Unfortunately, there is still a proposed budget amendment that would extend the Executive Order until the end of the state of emergency. We will update you on the outcome once the budget is determined.

Personal Protective Equipment
VOS supported legislation introduce by the Attorney General around Personal Protective Equipment. This bill will allow the AG’s office to investigate potential price gouging initiated by manufacturers and distributors. Physicians throughout Virginia have witnessed unconscionable price gouging for PPE as a result of COVID. We are thrilled that this legislation has passed committee and will continue to advocate for it.

Dentists and Influenza Vaccinations
A budget amendment has been proposed to allow dentists to administer influenza vaccinations. Currently, pharmacists, nurses and emergency medical technicians are permitted to do this under a special standing order from the Department of Health. This amendment would add dentists to that list. VOS and the entire physician community oppose this amendment because it sets a precedent of allowing dentists to enter into the practice of medicine.

Surprise Billing
As a result of the surprise billing legislation we passed in March, the Virginia Health Initiative has convened a workgroup to develop commercially reasonable payments data sets for the arbitration process. VOS has two representatives on this workgroup and is working to ensure the data set is accurate and truly reflects commercially reasonable rates are correct. We will continue to monitor this closely and keep you updated.

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