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.
Summary
SB736 repeals Virginia’s State/Local Hospitalization Program by striking Chapter 12 of Title 32.1, which contained the statutory framework for that program. The bill also updates related lien and billing provisions in § 8.01-66.9 and § 54.1-2404 to remove references to the repealed program and to keep the remaining medical lien and itemized-statement rules aligned with current law.
Under the amended lien statute, the Commonwealth and certain state programs and institutions retain a lien for medical services paid on behalf of an injured person, including Medicaid and other listed public health programs, against personal injury recoveries and certain insurance proceeds. The bill preserves the court’s ability to reduce and apportion liens in appropriate cases after notice and a good-faith effort to compromise. The billing statute continues to require licensed or certified health care providers to furnish itemized statements upon request, even when the charges may be submitted to a third-party payer, with a limited exception for certain health services governed by Title 38.2.
Impact
The bill removes an obsolete or no-longer-needed statutory program from the Code of Virginia and cleans up cross-references in the medical lien and patient billing statutes. It affects the Commonwealth’s ability to assert liens for publicly funded medical care in personal injury cases, but only by eliminating references to the repealed State/Local Hospitalization Program while leaving the broader lien structure for Medicaid and other public programs intact. It also preserves patient access to itemized billing statements from health care providers.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported and noncontroversial. It moved through Senate committees and floor votes unanimously or near-unanimously, and it also passed the House without opposition. The absence of recorded committee testimony suggests the measure was treated as a technical or cleanup bill rather than a contested policy change.
Contention
No significant opposition is reflected in the available record. The only likely point of interest is the repeal of the State/Local Hospitalization Program itself, which removes an older statutory program from the Code, but the bill does not show any recorded debate over that repeal. Any discussion appears to have focused on conforming amendments and maintaining existing lien and billing protections rather than on substantive disagreement.
Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority; Virginia Nursing Workforce Center established; reporting and monitoring of health care workforce programs; residency slots; work group; report.
Providing for the use of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identifier in all Commonwealth agency or entity blanks, forms, documents and applications; and imposing penalties.
A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 58.1-416, as it is effective and as it may become effective, 58.1-422.4, and 58.1-422.5, as it may become effective, of the Code of Virginia and to repeal the third enactment of Chapter 256 and the third enactment of Chapter 257 of the Acts of Assembly of 2022, relating to corporate income tax; sourcing of sales other than sales of tangible personal property.