The House Committee on Health and Human Resources met Tuesday to consider four bills.
The committee advanced four pieces of legislation regarding health care occupations, water protection, and incentivizing the increase of mental health professionals in the state of West Virginia.
House Bill 2612 would authorize the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources to update rules regarding the source water protection plans throughout the state. Currently, public water utilities are mandated to report the status of their water and a water protection plan to the state commission every three years. This bill would allow the timeframe of this reporting to be more flexible in order to give these water utilities more time to review the status of their water protection.
House Bill 2612 was passed unanimously and advanced to the House floor with the recommendation that it do pass.
House Bill 2651 is a bill that would require pharmacy benefit managers who contract within the state of West Virginia to inform covered customers if a cheaper drug is available to them. The bill would also require the pharmacy benefit manager to submit quarterly reports to the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) when applicable.
Delegate Joe Ellington, R-Mercer, who is one of the lead sponsors of the bill, stated that the legislation was inspired by similar legislation in Virginia and Ohio.
House Bill 2651 passed unanimously, and was advanced to House Finance for a second reference.
House Bill 2607 would revise the reporting requirements for licensed nursing homes in the state. The strike-and-insert legislation cleans up some language in the previous code in order to better specify the Secretary of DHHR’s administrative responsibilities, as well as specify the requirements of licensed state nursing homes as far as reportage goes.
House Bill 2607 was advanced to the House Floor.
House Bill 2674 would create a loan repayment program for mental health professionals who have worked in the state of West Virginia within an underserved area for at least five years.
The loan repayment program, which would be budgeted legislatively within the Higher Education Policy Commission, would aim to incentivize mental health professionals to work within the state in order to get their student loans paid off.
West Virginia has shown a great need for mental health professionals, which inspired lead sponsor Delegate Martin Atkinson III, R-Roane, to create the legislation.
“We’re trying to get people to stay in the state of West Virginia with this bill,” Atkinson said. “We need these professionals in our rural areas, and in our school systems.”
House Bill 2674 passed the House Committee on Health and Human Resources unanimously and was advanced to House Finance Committee for second reference.
