Gov. Ralph Northam has signed legislation establishing liability protections for assisted living facilities and other providers during Virginia’s COVID-19 state of emergency.

HB 5059 and SB 5082 provide that an assisted living facility (and other specified providers) that delivers care to or withholds care from a resident who is diagnosed as being or is believed to be infected with the COVID-19 virus shall not be liable for any injury or wrongful death of such resident receiving services arising from the delivery or withholding of care when the emergency and subsequent conditions caused by the emergency result in a lack of resources, attributable to the disaster, that render such a provider unable to provide the level or manner of care that otherwise would have been required in the absence of the emergency and that resulted in the injury or wrongful death at issue.

In May VHCA-VCAL was part of a large coalition that requested that the governor extend liability protections for care settings that were not included in Executive Order 60. (Executive Order 60 offered protections for health care providers, which includes nursing homes but did not include assisted living facilities.) These bills were brought forth by the General Assembly to address the governor’s concerns that he did not have the statutory or constitutional authority to offer these protections without a legislative change. The legislation is specific to the coronavirus pandemic and does not provide immunity for gross negligence or willful misconduct. The bills passed the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia with broad bipartisan support.

Passage of this legislation was a top VHCA-VCAL priority during the special session for our assisted living members.