Authority: Title 54.1, Chapter 25, Code of Virginia.
A. That the regulations the Board of Dentistry is required to promulgate pursuant to Chapter 413, 2023 Acts of Assembly, shall be promulgated to be effective within 280 days of enactment.
B.1. Effective July 1, 2024, as a condition for licensure, the Board of Medicine and the Board of Nursing shall require all practitioners with authority to prescribe behavioral health medications to children and adolescents to provide families with (i) a plan on medication management and access after hours and on weekends and holidays or in emergencies, (ii) a working means of contacting the prescriber either telephonically or electronically with a response time within 48 hours to address questions or concerns with prescribed behavioral health medications for children and adolescents, and (iii) guidance documents either in a paper format or through a website on how to obtain help related to medication management, prescription refills or medication overdose after hours. In addition, the Boards shall require that any provider that closes their practice must make medical records available to families no later than one week after closure. The department shall have the authority to implement these changes prior to completion of any regulatory process undertaken in order to effect such change.
B.2. The Board of Medicine and the Board of Nursing shall convene a workgroup to study best practices regarding patient medication management for behavioral health medications to children and adolescents, provider-patient communication with respect to medication management, and provider availability when a child or adolescent is prescribed a behavioral health medication. The workgroup shall include representatives from relevant professional organizations, healthcare stakeholders, subject matter experts, and parents of children receiving behavioral health medications. The workgroup shall report its findings and recommendations to the Chairs of the House Committee of Health and Human Services and the Senate Committee on Education and Health by December 1, 2025.
C. The Board of Counseling shall promulgate regulations that align with the regulations adopted by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for peer recovery specialist-trainees in accordance with this Act. The department shall have the authority to promulgate emergency regulations to implement these changes within 280 days or less from the enactment of this Act.
D.1. Out of this appropriation, up to $600,000 the second year from the Commonwealth Opioid Abatement and Remediation (COAR) opioid settlement funds shall be provided to the Department of Health Professions for systems changes to the Prescription Monitoring Program to implement the provisions of House Bill 1902, passed by the 2025 General Assembly. These funds shall remain unallotted until the cost estimates for such systems changes are reviewed and approved by the Director, Department of Planning and Budget.
2.The Department of Health Professions shall include in its budget submissions to the Governor for the 2026-28 budget any necessary general fund requirements for ongoing support for the data sharing agreement.
E.1. By June 30, 2026, the Department of Health Professions (DHP) shall provide the Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF) a useable electronic file (CSV, Excel spreadsheet) with record-level, de-identified data collected via the most recent license renewal period for each individual licensed behavioral health (BH) professional practicing in Virginia as a psychiatrist, child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, psychiatric physician assistant, licensed clinical social worker, licensed professional counselor, licensed clinical psychologist and, if available, licensed marriage and family therapist.
2. The following specific data fields shall be provided to VHCF for each licensee: unique record identifier; birthyear; race and ethnicity; gender; practice site information (each locality of practice; number of hours worked/week at each site; hours/week worked virtually at each Virginia work site); forms of payment accepted (with ability to identify the proportion of each type of BH profession accepting only cash, and the proportion of each type of BH profession accepting only Medicaid as a payment source, as well as Medicaid in combination with each other payer source option available to licensees – e.g., Medicaid + Medicare, Medicaid + Medicare + Private Insurance); plans to reduce clinical hours in next two years; and anticipated time to retirement.
3. DHP shall also provide VHCF a code book, data definitions and/or user guides in an electronic format (Word, Excel, PDF) so it can clearly understand the data elements and their structure (alphanumeric, multiple responses – to include all possible options a licensee may select, open/free response). This code book shall also include record length and record count; known data quality issues and related documentation regarding resolution and, to the extent possible, impact on the data set and/or data functionality; and changes to policy and/or administrative practices that may have impacted the data set and implementation date.
4. VHCF shall protect the confidentiality and security of record-level data provided by the DHP and interim or working documents and/or data files consistent with state and federal law.