An Act to amend and reenact §§ 8.01-66.9 and 54.1-2404 of the Code of Virginia and to repeal Chapter 12 (§§ 32.1-343 through 32.1-350) of Title 32.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to State/Local Hospitalization Program; repeal.
HB817 repeals Virginia’s State/Local Hospitalization Program by striking Chapter 12 of Title 32.1, which had set out the program’s statutory framework. The bill also makes conforming changes to two other Code sections. In § 8.01-66.9, it removes references to the State/Local Hospitalization Program from the Commonwealth’s lien provisions for medical costs paid on behalf of an injured person, while leaving intact the lien structure for other covered programs such as Medicaid, maternal and child health, and children’s specialty services. In § 54.1-2404, it keeps the requirement that health care providers give patients itemized statements on request, including when services may be billed to third-party payors, but removes the State/Local Hospitalization Program from that reference as well.
The practical effect is to eliminate the standalone statutory program for state/local hospitalization and to clean up related lien and billing language in the Code. The repeal means any rights, procedures, or obligations that depended specifically on Chapter 12 of Title 32.1 are removed from Virginia law, while the Commonwealth’s recovery rights for other public medical assistance programs remain in place. The bill does not appear to create a new replacement program in the text provided; instead, it deletes the old chapter and updates cross-references accordingly.
HB817 changes Virginia law by repealing Chapter 12 of Title 32.1, which governed the State/Local Hospitalization Program, and by amending lien and patient-billing statutes to remove references to that program. It preserves the Commonwealth’s lien rights for other public health programs and maintains the requirement for itemized statements from health care providers, but the State/Local Hospitalization Program itself is removed from the Code.
Based on the available record, the bill appears to have been enacted without recorded committee debate or roll-call controversy in the materials provided. The absence of transcripts and votes suggests no documented opposition in the supplied context, and the final chaptered status indicates the measure advanced successfully through the legislative process.
The main substantive issue is the repeal of the State/Local Hospitalization Program itself. Any concern would likely center on whether eliminating the program affects access to hospital assistance for indigent or uninsured patients and how localities or hospitals will handle any responsibilities previously tied to the program. A secondary issue is the removal of the program from lien provisions, though the bill leaves other public-assistance lien rights intact. No specific opposing viewpoints or named stakeholders are identified in the provided materials.