Summary: Individuals with disabilities; terminology. Replaces various instances of the terms "handicap," "handicapped," and similar variations throughout the Code of Virginia with alternative terms, as appropriate in the statutory context, such as "disability" and "impairment." The bill contains technical amendments. As introduced, the bill is a recommendation of the Virginia Disability Commission. This bill is identical to SB 798.

Summary: Rights of persons with disabilities; definitions;mobility-impaired person. Removes from the definition of "mobility-impairedperson" the requirement that such person complete training to usea dog for service or support as a prerequisite to invoking the rightsof persons with disabilities under Chapter 9 (§ 51.5-40 et seq.)of Title 51.5.

Summary: Drug Control Act; Schedule I. Adds certain chemicals to Schedule I of the Drug Control Act. The Board of Pharmacy has added these substances in an expedited regulatory process. A substance added via this process is removed from the schedule after 18 months unless a general law is enacted adding the substance to the schedule. This bill is identical to SB 894.

Summary: Administration of controlled substances fortreatment of mental illness or emotional disturbance; parental consentrequired. Provides that a minor shall not be deemed an adultfor the purpose of consenting to administration of medication for the treatment of mental illness or emotional disturbance. Currently,a minor is deemed an adult for the purpose of consenting to medicaland health services needed in the case of outpatient care, treatment, or rehabilitation for mental illness or emotional disturbance.

Summary: Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; data reporting on children and adolescents; reporting requirements.Removes the requirement that the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services collect certain data relating to children and adolescents from each community policy and management team and each community services board or behavioral health authority.

Summary: Children's Services Act; information sharing; confidentiality exception. Allows family assessment and planningteams (FAPT) and community policy and management teams (CPMT) toshare information with local law enforcement or threat assessment teams established by local school boards if a FAPT or CPMT obtainsinformation from which the team determines that a child poses a threatof violence or physical harm to himself or others. Under current law, all information about specific children and families obtained byFAPT and CPMT members must be kept confidential.

Summary: Public Guardian and Conservator Advisory Boardmember terms; local or regional public guardian and conservator programs;staff to client ratio. Extends to four years the terms of allmembers of the Public Guardian and Conservator Advisory Board currentlyappointed by the Governor to three-year terms. The bill also eliminatesthe requirement that each local or regional public guardian and conservatorprogram develop a plan, in consultation with the local circuit courtand sheriffs, where appropriate, to provide advance notice to the court when the program falls below or exceeds the ideal range ofstaff to client ratios in order to assure continuity of services.

Summary: Bedding and upholstered furniture; exemption from regulation. Exempts from the Board of Health regulations governing bedding and upholstered furniture any items of bedding or upholstered furniture that are 75 years old or older. This bill is identical to SB 1016.

Summary: Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services;training; powers and duties of guardian; annual reports by guardians;information required. Directs the Department for Aging and RehabilitativeServices to develop and provide training for court-appointed guardiansby July 1, 2024. The bill requires an appointed guardian and anystaff employed by such guardian to perform guardianship duties tocomplete the initial training developed by the Department withinfour months of the date of the initial court order of appointmentand guardians and such staff appointed prior to July 1, 2024, tocomplete such training by January 1, 2026. The bill further requiresa guardian to include in his annual report to the local departmentof social services a statement as to whether such training has beencompleted.

Summary: Medical cannabis program; transition from Boardof Pharmacy to Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. Transfersoversight and administration of the Commonwealth's medical cannabisprogram from the Board of Pharmacy to the Virginia Cannabis ControlAuthority.

Summary: Medical cannabis program; transition from Board of Pharmacy to Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. Transfers oversight and administration of the Commonwealth's medical cannabis program from the Board of Pharmacy to the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2024, and is identical to SB 788.

Summary: Board of Medicine; continuing education; implicitbias and cultural competency in health care. Requires the Boardof Medicine to adopt and implement policies that require each practitioner licensed by the Board who has direct contact with persons who areor may become pregnant to complete two hours of continuing educationrelated to implicit bias, defined in the bill, and cultural competencyin health care at least once every other license renewal cycle.

Summary: Medical marijuana program; product, registration, dispensing, and recordkeeping requirements; advertising. Allows a practitioner to issue a written certification via telemedicine to a patient who is located on the premises of a pharmaceutical processor or cannabis dispensing facility. The bill allows pharmaceutical processors and cannabis dispensing facilities to make available on their premises technology that uncertified persons may use to contact a practitioner of the person's choice to request a written certification. The bill amends and adds numerous provisions regarding the Commonwealth's medical marijuana program, including provisions related to recordkeeping, product registration, expiration dates, allowable deviations, dispensing, packaging, labeling, and advertising. The bill requires pharmaceutical processors and cannabis dispensing facilities to collect and provide to the Board of Pharmacy by July 1, 2024, data regarding implementation of the bill. The bill also requires the Board of Pharmacy to make certain amendments to its regulations. This bill is identical to SB 1337.

Summary: Managed care health insurance plan licensees; network adequacy for mental health care services. Requires each managed care health insurance plan licensee (licensee) to (i) provide a sufficient number and mix of services, specialists, and practice sites to meet covered persons' mental health care needs; (ii) ensure that covered persons have telephone access 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to responsible and knowledgeable mental health care practitioners capable of assessing the covered persons' conditions and, as necessary, providing for appropriate services; and (iii) incorporate strategies into its access procedures to facilitate utilization of the licensee's mental health care services by covered persons with physical, mental, language, or cultural barriers. The bill requires a managed care health insurance plan licensee to cover out-of-network mental health care services to a covered person if (a) the licensee does not have a mental health care provider within its network capable of providing mental health care services to the covered person; (b) the majority of the managed care health insurance plan licensee's mental health care providers within 25 miles of a covered person or, if appropriate for the covered person, available via telemedicine who have experience treating the general age group of a covered person are no longer accepting new patients or have wait-lists to receive care; or (c) the managed care health insurance plan licensee does not have a mental health care provider within 25 miles of a covered person or, if appropriate for the covered person, available via telemedicine who (1) has experience or expertise in treating patients who share the emotionally distressing experiences, defined in the bill, or demographics of the covered person seeking care and (2) is capable of providing care within the next 31 days. The bill provides that a licensee may require certain verification that the mental health care services are related to an emotionally distressing experience but is prohibited from requiring proof of a criminal proceeding. The bill requires a managed care health insurance plan licensee, for any covered person seeking mental health care services that has self-harm or suicidal ideation, to cover any associated out-of-network care such that the covered person shall not be responsible for any additional costs incurred by the managed care health insurance plan licensee for such services, other than any applicable copayment, coinsurance, or deductible. The bill requires a licensee to accept verification from the associated out-of-network provider that the mental health care services provided were related to the covered person's self-harm or suicidal ideation and prohibits a licensee from imposing any additional requirements to verify that the covered person was seeking care related to self-harm or suicidal ideation.

Summary: Public pools; regulations. Directs the Boardof Health to adopt regulations governing swimming pools and otherwater recreational facilities operated for public use, includingswimming pools and other water recreational facilities operated inconjunction with a tourist facility or health spa.

Summary: Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Createsthe Interstate Medical Licensure Compact to create a process forexpedited issuance of a license to practice medicine in the Commonwealthfor qualifying physicians to enhance the portability of medical licenseswhile protecting patient safety. The bill establishes requirementsfor coordination of information systems among member states and proceduresfor investigation and discipline of physicians alleged to have engagedin unprofessional conduct. The bill creates the Interstate MedicalLicensure Compact Commission to administer the compact.

Summary: Treatment services for sexual assault survivors;emergency contraception; provision by health care providers, paymentfrom fund. Requires the State Board of Health to adopt regulationsthat provide for the administration of emergency contraception byhealth care providers to survivors of sexual assault if the survivorrequests it. The bill modifies the Criminal Injuries CompensationFund so that it pays for such emergency contraception.

Summary: Substance abuse counselors; barrier crimes;exception. Allows persons with convictions for possession ofa controlled substance to work at adult substance abuse or adultmental health treatment programs.

Summary: In-person visitation policies and procedures at certain facilities. Requires hospitals, nursing home, certified nursing facilities, hospices or hospice facilities, assisted living facilities, and intermediate care facilities to establish certain in-person visitation policies and procedures. The bill (i) requires that such policies include screening, personal protective equipment, and other infection control protocols for visitors; (ii) prohibits such policies from requiring the visitor to provide proof of immunization or vaccination; (iii) requires such policies to allow consensual physical contact between the visitor and the resident, client, or patient of the facility; (iv) authorizes the resident, client, or patient to designate an essential caregiver and establishes requirements related to essential caregivers; (v) requires that such policies allow unrestricted in-person visitation under certain circumstances; (vi) provides that the policies and procedures may require visitors to agree in writing to follow such policies and procedures; (vii) authorizes facilities to suspend in-person visitation of specific visitors for violations of such agreement; (viii) requires facilities to make their in-person policies and procedures available to the Department of Health for review when applying for initial licensure, licensure renewal, or change of ownership; and (ix) requires facilities and the Department of Health to make their in-person visitation policies and procedures easily accessible from their websites.  

Summary: Department of Health Professions; Virginia Healthcare Workforce Data Center; provision of certain information related tohealth care providers to the public. Directs the Department ofHealth Professions (the Department), through its Virginia HealthcareWorkforce Data Center, to make available to the public by requestany existing data on health care providers by locality, includingcertification type and demographic information for each provider.The bill requires that if the Department is unable to provide suchinformation upon request, the Department must provide an explanationto the requestor as to why the information cannot be provided.

Summary: Medical marijuana program; product requirements; certifications; reporting. Requires cannabis product and botanical cannabis labels to be complete, accurate, easily discernable, and uniform among different products and brands and that each label, which shall be included on the product and on the pharmaceutical processor's website, include (i) the product name, (ii) all active and inactive ingredients, (iii) the total percentage and milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol included in the product and the number of milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol in each serving, (iv) the amount of product that constitutes a single serving and the amount recommended for use by the practitioner or dispensing pharmacist, (v) information regarding the product's purpose and detailed usage directions, and (vi) child and safety warnings in a conspicuous font. The bill also requires that a pharmaceutical processor or cannabis dispensing facility shall maintain an adequate supply of cannabis products that (a) contain cannabidiol as their primary cannabinoid and (b) have low levels of or no tetrahydrocannabinol. The bill provides that a patient's registered agent is not required to register with the Board of Pharmacy when such registered agent is listed on the patient's written certification pursuant to the patient's request and in the discretion of the practitioner based on medical need. The bill also requires that, in the case of cannabis products, the Prescription Monitoring Program shall include only the information specified in law, which is amended by the bill.

Summary: Medical marijuana program; dispensaries.Removes the requirement that a cannabis dispensing facility be owned,at least in part, by a pharmaceutical processor and increases fromfive to 12 the number of cannabis dispensing facility permits theBoard of Pharmacy may issue per year in each health service area.

Summary: Prescriptions; telemedicine; refusal to fill prescription from telemedicine provider; prohibition. Prohibits pharmacists from refusing to fill prescriptions solely on the basis of a prescriber's use of a telemedicine platform to provide services. The bill also prohibits pharmacists from prioritizing dispensing prescriptions from a prescriber who does not use telemedicine over prescriptions from a prescriber who does use telemedicine based solely on the prescriber's use of a telemedicine platform to provide services.

Summary: Virginia Consumer Protection Act; personal reproductiveor sexual health information. Adds obtaining, disclosing, selling,or disseminating certain enumerated personal reproductive or sexualhealth information without the consent of the consumer as a prohibitedpractice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.

Summary: Hospital price transparency; private right of action; patient payment disputes; noncompliance; prohibition of debt collection. Allows patients to bring an action against a hospital that is not in material compliance with hospital price transparency laws. Under the bill, if a hospital is not in material compliance with hospital price transparency laws on the date that an elective procedure, test, or service is provided to a patient by the hospital, the patient may bring an action, individually or jointly, against the hospital to recover payment of the price of the elective procedure, test, or service. Under the bill, a hospital that is not in material compliance with hospital price transparency laws on the date that an elective procedure, test, or service is provided to a patient is liable for the price of the elective procedure, test, or service provided and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages; interest accruing from the date the elective procedure, test, or service was provided; and reasonable attorney fees and costs. The bill requires the court, if it finds that the hospital knowingly was not in material compliance with hospital price transparency laws, to award the patient an amount up to triple the amount of the price of the elective procedure, test, or service and reasonable attorney fees and costs. Under the bill, beginning July 1, 2023, whenever a dispute arises between a hospital and a patient over a patient payment amount, the hospital's list of standard charges for all items and services shall be used to determine the correct payment amount and reasonableness of the payment. The bill also prohibits a hospital, defined in the bill, or other person or entity collecting on behalf of the hospital, from initiating or pursuing collection actions against a patient or patient guarantor for debt incurred by the patient on the date or dates of service when the hospital was not in material compliance with federal hospital price transparency laws.  

Summary: Hospital price transparency; enforcement; plansof correction; civil penalty. Grants the Department of Healthauthority to impose a plan of correction on hospitals that fail to comply with hospital price transparency requirements. The billimposes a civil penalty on noncompliant hospitals. Hospitals that violate price transparency requirements may be reported to the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Attorney General.