The Senate Health and Human Resources has approved two bills to be reported to the full Senate with the recommendation that they pass.
SB 326 would require Department of Defense family advocacy groups to be notified about any abuse or neglect of a child of a military person.
The bill was previously reported out of Senate Military with the recommendation that it do pass.
SB 428 would provide the conditions under which a pharmacist may partially fill a prescription, and the limitations on subsequently filling the remaining portion of that prescription.
The bill will be referred to Senate Judiciary once reported to the floor.
The committee also discussed HB 2459, which would clarify certain requirements of the certificate of need process.
The bill was up for discussion only.
Christopher Koopman of George Mason University’s Mercatus Center recommended to the committee that they repeal West Virginia’s certificate of need, rather than simply making small changes to the bill allowing it.
Koopman said his studies have shown that certificate of need has been unsuccessful in providing quality, low-cost care to citizens of this state and throughout the nation in other states that use certificate of need regulations.
“Across the board, CON [certificate of need] programs have failed,” Koopman said.
Koopman said his findings show that the restrictions of certificate of need have resulted in fewer rural hospitals, hospital beds and certain types of medical equipment and, thus, has increased total healthcare spending and causes citizens to seek care from neighboring states without strict certificate of need requirements.
He said West Virginia has the sixth most restrictive certificate of need guidelines in the country.
Post Audit Division Manager Adam Fridley said he agreed with Koopman and recommended the termination of the certificate of need program on behalf of the Auditor’s Office.
Sonia Chambers, chair of the West Virginia Health Care Authority, voiced her support for the bill and spoke against the complete termination of certificate of need provisions.
“There are strong feelings on both sides of this issue,” Chambers said, “But we would agree that it [certificate of need] is very important and has served a vital role in West Virginia.”
Chambers said the legislature has already done a good job of “modernizing” the certificate of need bill to save money and reduce some restrictions on health services.
Chambers also addressed the claims of increases in healthcare spending and said those costs are due to the nature of prevalent health issues in West Virginia, rather than due to certificate of need requirements.
Joe Letnaunchyn, president and CEO of the West Virginia Hospital Association, agreed with Chambers and said the best course of action would be to “make the CON more user friendly” instead of eliminating it entirely.
Letnauchyn also said the studies Koopman and Fridley based their research on were created in 2015 before the certificate of need bill had first been modernized, making their claims inaccurate.
Committee counsel said SB 31, SB 389 and SB 457 are pending before the committee and would impact certificate of need as well.
