Activities

In keeping with its statutory mandate, the Joint Commission received reports; completed studies; considered comments from public and private organizations, advocates, industry representatives, citizens and other interested parties; and introduced legislation to advance the quality of health and health care services in the Commonwealth.

Joint Commission on Health Care

The full Commission met five times in 2017. These meetings were held in Senate Room 3 of the Capitol Building on May 23th and August 22nd and in the Pocahontas Building on September 19th, October 17th and November 9th. Meeting materials (including agendas, presentations, handouts and minutes) are posted on the JCHC website at http://jchc.virginia.gov. Eleven staff reports were presented during the 2017 Joint Commission meetings.

• Medical Use of Cannabis and Health Effects of Cannabis
• Sustainability of Virginia’s Prescription Monitoring Program
• Development of Life-Sustaining Treatment Guidelines
• Heroin Use in Virginia
• Should Medigap Policies Be Provided for Medicare Recipients Under 65 Years of Age in Virginia?
• Staffing Ratio Requirements for Assisted Living Facilities in Virginia
• Creation of a Registry of Abuse or Neglect Cases for the Building Independence, Family and Individual Supports, and Community Living Waiver Programs in Virginia
• Quality of Health Care Services in Virginia Jails and Prisons, and Impact of Requiring Community Services Boards to Provide Mental Health Services in Jails, Interim Report (2-year study)
• Options for Increasing the Use of Telemental Health Services in Virginia, Interim Report (2-year study)
• Prevalence and Risks of ADHD Medications in Virginia, Interim Report (2-year study)
• Medical Aid-in-Dying in Virginia, Interim Report (2-year study)

In addition to the staff reports, members received reports and heard presentations from a number of guest presenters. Their PowerPoint presentations are available to view on the JCHC website meetings page. The following are the reports presented to JCHC members.

Marissa Levine, Commissioner of the Department of Health, gave a presentation on the Department’s Plan for Well Being, including the foundational concepts of the plan, contributions of factors affecting health, community infrastructure model of health improvement, and insights from plan implementation.

Jack Barber, Interim Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), presented an Update on the Department’s activities and initiatives. He discussed the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, jails, workforce shortages, oversight processes and behavioral health state spending. He also mentioned hospital discharge challenges and what is being done to fix those issues. Lastly he spoke about structural updates that need to be done to state hospitals due to the age of the buildings.

Steve Herrick, Director of Health Services for the Department of Corrections (DOC), presented on the requirements of the DOC and the actions taken or planned to address them.

Mellie Randall, Substance Use Disorder Policy Director for the DBHDS, gave an overview of the State Targeted Response to the Opioid Crisis Grant awarded to Virginia for the provision of opioid prevention and recovery services.

Debbie Oswalt, Executive Director of the Virginia Health Care Foundation, gave a presentation, “25 Years of Productive Partnerships," in recognition of the Foundation’s 25th anniversary. She explained the mission and accomplishments of the Foundation, such as helping to provide health services to 700,000 uninsured and medically underserved Commonwealth residents.

Michael Lundberg, Executive Director of VHI, presented the organization’s Annual Report and Strategic Plan. He explained the different reports that can be accessed on their website and who may benefit from reading them. He also discussed ConnectVirginia HIE, Emergency Department Care Coordination Program (EDCCP), All Payer Claims Database (APCD), healthcare reform efforts and the sources of VHI revenues.

Andrew Mitchell, JCHC Senior Health Policy Analyst, presented the results of the Life-Sustaining Treatment Guidelines Work Group that was created by a 2016 JCHC approved policy option (see Executive Summaries below for additional information).

Behavioral Health Care Subcommittee

The Behavioral Health Care Subcommittee met on October 17th, 2017. Sarah Stanton and David Cotter, attorneys from the Division of Legislative Services, gave an Update on the Joint Subcommittee to Study Mental Health Services in the 21st Century, including the activities and recommendations of each of the Subcommittee’s work groups.

Will Frank, Director of Legislative Affairs at DBHDS, and Shannon Dion, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, presented on the Alternative Transportation Study. They discussed the language of HB 1426 (Garrett)/SB 1221 (Barker) and the membership of the corresponding work group charged with creating an alternative transportation model. They then explained the work group’s meetings and recommendations.

Patti Goodall, Manager of the Brain Injury Services Coordination Unit, Division for Community Living, Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, presented the Brain Injury Interagency Report. She spoke about the request that was received from JCHC to develop and implement a program for improving services for individuals with traumatic brain injury and she explained the goals of the implementation team created to meet the request.

Several members of the Minnesota Multistate Contracting Alliance gave an overview of their organization. They discussed ways in which their organization is saving money for many agencies in Virginia, and other states, on pharmaceutical and medical supplies.

Healthy Living/Health Services Subcommittee

The Healthy Living/Health Services Subcommittee met on August 22nd. There was one staff presentation that provided an interim report on the medical-aid-in-dying two-year study. The presentation is available on the JCHC website on the Meetings page (see Executive Summaries below for additional information).

Dawn Traver, Director of Waiver Operations in the Division of Developmental Services at DBHDS, gave an update on the three redesigned Developmental Disability Waivers. The presentation included an explanation of the number of waiver slots available, how they are being changed, and the number of individuals on the wait list for waiver services.

Kathy Wibberly, Director of the Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center at the University of Virginia Center for Telehealth, gave a presentation on the Telehealth Pilot Program. She introduced a two-year pilot project for Teleheath services and listed 5 core elements needed for the success of the project.