Good news: The budget approved by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Youngkin on May 13 includes $81.6 million in Medicaid Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) funding for the next two state fiscal years (SFY).

• This amount is what the legislature originally passed in March. This funding will move the total VBP funding from the current $144.1 million to $184.9 million for both SFYs 2025 and 2026. (This does not affect the VBP results/payments currently in process for year 2 of the program.)
• The delegates and senators sustained this funding level despite an effort by the governor to halve the funding in April.

Thank you to our grassroots and grasstops advocates who reached out to legislators and the governor throughout the legislative session. Your efforts made a significant difference for nursing home funding.

• Legislators paid attention to the calls, emails, and visits from VHCA-VCAL members and chose to support nursing homes and their residents among many other competing budget priorities.

Overall, VHCA-VCAL had a very successful legislative session. In addition to the boost for VBP funding, we saw passage of the LTSS Screening legislation to allow nursing facility screening teams to conduct more screenings at the right time, and the legislation to move the commonwealth forward with creating a curriculum and pathway for medication aides to work in certified nursing facilities. We did not see any significant legislation to subject assisted living facilities to additional regulation, which is very positive.

Other victories: We were also part of efforts to push back against:

• efforts to unravel the medical malpractice cap and a bill to dictate additional requirements related to liability coverage carried by nursing facilities;
• a bill that would have upended the sanctions for noncompliance with Virginia’s minimum staffing standard; and
• legislation that would have subjected nursing home licensure applications to include detailed information on ownership interests, pending litigation, real property, the financial history of persons mentioned in the application, and more.

We are always proud to represent you and your teams who spend each day caring for others.

• Thank you for your membership and your engagement in the association.