What’s new: The Joint Commission on Health Care (JCHC), a General Assembly standing commission, is examining the affordability of assisted living facilities, with a focus on the auxiliary grants (AG) program.

• VHCA-VCAL submitted comments (see p. 13) to the commission signaling strong support for any effort to increase the AG rate.
• VHCA-VCAL also responded to questions about whether members would be interested in a waiver program that offered Medicaid funding for ALF services by saying we would need a more explicit understanding of the details before establishing a position on the concept.

What’s next: The legislators on the JCHC will vote on various policy options at their December 7 meeting.

• The JCHC’s action represents only one step in the process leading to legislation.
• Any recommendation endorsed by the JCHC would then need to be introduced as a bill or budget amendment during the upcoming legislative session and pass both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate.
• Of note, the proposed policy options would require funding, which would need to be included in the state budget.