What’s happening: On March 4 the House Courts of Justice Committee passed a substitute version of SB 536 that would raise Virginia’s medical malpractice cap to $6 million as of July 1, 2027 from the current $2.75 million cap. After July 2, 2029, and every two years thereafter, the cap will be adjusted based on the cost of living.

Specific to nursing facilities, the bill includes a provision altering the requirement for how much professional liability coverage facilities must carry. The existing statute says nursing facilities must carry coverage equal to the cap recovery limit. Language in SB 536 specifies that nursing facilities must carry coverage of $3 million per patient per occurrence.

• The requirement to carry non-eroding general liability insurance coverage in a minimum amount of $1 million per occurrence is unchanged.

Other bill provisions: The bill also includes language allowing a patient to recover up to two years of prejudgment interest in addition to the amount recoverable for malpractice actions where the act or acts of malpractice occurred on or after July 1, 2027, when a judge or jury awards prejudgment interest against a health care provider, and the total verdict plus interest exceeds the total amount recoverable.

Next steps: The bill is expected to receive enough votes to pass the House of Delegates in the coming days. Because the bill was altered significantly from the version passed in the Senate, Senators must consider the changes. We anticipate that the bill will have significant support in the Senate as well.

VHCA-VCAL’s position: VHCA-VCAL did not support the changes to the current malpractice cap structure and relayed to legislators our concerns about the cost of increased professional liability coverage on providers.