Virginia HB 420: Opioid-related emergencies; evidence-based best practices in the emergency department.

Bill Text

2022SESSION
HOUSESUBSTITUTE
22105918D
1 HOUSEBILLNO.420
2 AMENDMENTINTHENATUREOFASUBSTITUTE
3 (ProposedbytheHouseCommitteeonHealth,WelfareandInstitutions
4 onFebruary8,2022)
5 (PatronPriortoSubstitute––DelegateDelaney)
6 A BILL to amend and reenact § 32.1-127 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by
7 adding a section numbered 32.1-23.02, relating to Department of Health; evidence-based best
8 practices for opioid-related emergencies in the emergency department.
9 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
10 1. That § 32.1-127 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia
11 is amended by adding a section numbered 32.1-23.02 as follows:
12 § 32.1-23.02. Publication of evidence-based best practices for opioid-related emergencies in the
13 emergency department.
14 The Department shall publish on its website and update at least annually evidence-based best
15 practices for opioid-related emergencies in the emergency department. Such evidence-based best
16 practices shall address the identification of a multidisciplinary team to establish training, protocols, and
17 continuous improvement; the compilation of an inventory of outpatient and residential referral
18 resources; the role of peer recovery specialists in treatment and follow-up services; tools for screening
19 patients for opioid use; tools for screening for withdrawal; protocols for prescribing medication, as
20 appropriate, for treatment of opioid use disorder, including buprenorphine; protocols for connecting
21 patients to follow-up outpatient services; and the development of programs for dispensing of naloxone or
22 other opioid antagonists to patients who have experienced an opioid-related emergency.
23 §32.1-127. Regulations.
24 A. The regulations promulgated by the Board to carry out the provisions of this article shall be in
25 substantial conformity to the standards of health, hygiene, sanitation, construction and safety as
26 established and recognized by medical and health care professionals and by specialists in matters of
27 public health and safety, including health and safety standards established under provisions of Title
28 XVIII and Title XIX of the Social Security Act, and to the provisions of Article 2 (§32.1-138 et seq.).
29 B. Such regulations:
30 1. Shall include minimum standards for (i) the construction and maintenance of hospitals, nursing
31 homes and certified nursing facilities to ensure the environmental protection and the life safety of its
32 patients, employees, and the public; (ii) the operation, staffing and equipping of hospitals, nursing homes
33 and certified nursing facilities; (iii) qualifications and training of staff of hospitals, nursing homes and
34 certified nursing facilities, except those professionals licensed or certified by the Department of Health
35 Professions; (iv) conditions under which a hospital or nursing home may provide medical and nursing
36 services to patients in their places of residence; and (v) policies related to infection prevention, disaster
37 preparedness, and facility security of hospitals, nursing homes, and certified nursing facilities;
38 2. Shall provide that at least one physician who is licensed to practice medicine in this
39 Commonwealth shall be on call at all times, though not necessarily physically present on the premises,
40 at each hospital which operates or holds itself out as operating an emergency service;
41 3. May classify hospitals and nursing homes by type of specialty or service and may provide for
42 licensing hospitals and nursing homes by bed capacity and by type of specialty or service;
43 4. Shall also require that each hospital establish a protocol for organ donation, in compliance with
44 federal law and the regulations of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), particularly
45 42 C.F.R. § 482.45. Each hospital shall have an agreement with an organ procurement organization
46 designated in CMS regulations for routine contact, whereby the provider's designated organ procurement
47 organization certified by CMS (i) is notified in a timely manner of all deaths or imminent deaths of
48 patients in the hospital and (ii) is authorized to determine the suitability of the decedent or patient for
49 organ donation and, in the absence of a similar arrangement with any eye bank or tissue bank in
50 Virginia certified by the Eye Bank Association of America or the American Association of Tissue
51 Banks, the suitability for tissue and eye donation. The hospital shall also have an agreement with at least
52 one tissue bank and at least one eye bank to cooperate in the retrieval, processing, preservation, storage,
53 and distribution of tissues and eyes to ensure that all usable tissues and eyes are obtained from potential
54 donors and to avoid interference with organ procurement. The protocol shall ensure that the hospital
55 collaborates with the designated organ procurement organization to