House Joint Resolution (HJR) 641 of the 1997 Session of the General Assembly directed the Board of Directors of the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program “to study increasing the scope and magnitude of the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program." As part of this effort, the General Assembly directed the Board to:

(1) identify the Program’s strengths and weaknesses,

(2) assess the purposes for which the Program was created by the General Assembly, and

(3) develop recommendations that will result in the increased use of the Program in a manner beneficial to the Commonwealth.

In July 1997, the Board of Directors for the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program contracted with the Center for Public Policy Research of the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy at the College of William and Mary to conduct the study.