What’s happening: General Assembly committees continue to work through long agendas to hold hearings on legislation.

• VHCA-VCAL’s priority bills on LTSS Screenings and medication aides are advancing.
• Several bills VHCA-VCAL is monitoring or opposes will be heard in subcommittees this evening or Friday.

Highlights of bills tracked by VHCA-VCAL.

Expansion of LTSS screenings that can be conducted by nursing facility screening teams – HB 291 and SB 24 have passed in their respective chambers by unanimous votes.

• The bills, which are identical, will need to be passed by the opposite chamber before being advanced to Gov. Glenn Youngkin for his consideration.

Developing a regulatory pathway for medication aides to administer drugs at certified nursing facilities – HB 349 passed the House of Delegates on a 95-3 and has been referred to the Senate Education and Health Committee.

• The bill directs the Board of Nursing (BON) to create a workgroup to determine the educational requirements and criteria to be used to enable advanced registered medication aides to administer drugs to residents in certified nursing facilities.

Change in the sanctions for noncompliance with the nursing facility minimum staffing standards – HB 886, which would change the implementation timeline and sanctions for noncompliance approved as part of the 2023 nursing facility staffing standard, will be heard in the health subcommittee of the HHS on Thursday evening, February 1.

• VHCA-VCAL opposes the bill’s accelerated timeline for implementation of the staffing standard regulations and has explained that it would be impossible to move from annual enforcement to quarterly enforcement of the staffing requirement because the mandated ratio is based on an annual calculation of total nurse staffing.

Professional liability insurance for nursing facilities – The Senate Education Committee voted unanimously to continue SB 579 to the 2025 session, effectively ending consideration of the bill for the current session. Bill patron Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) has asked VHCA-VCAL to meet with him outside of session to explore issues around nursing facilities’ professional liability coverage.

Electronic monitoring in resident rooms – SB 661, which would give residents of nursing facilities the right to place electronic monitoring devices in their rooms, will be heard by the health subcommittee of the Education and Health Committee on February 2.

• VHCA-VCAL opposes the bill because existing VDH regulations address electronic monitoring.