By Trevor Moncure
Commonwealth Strategy Group
The Virginia General Assembly officially adjourned and concluded the 2026 regular legislative session on March 14th. Legislators will return to Richmond on April 22nd to take action on any amendments or vetoed legislation from Governor Abigail Spanberger.
Although many pieces of significant legislation were passed, the House of Delegates and Senate could not agree on a final budget. Whether or not to maintain the tax exemption status for data centers continues to be the main reason for the divide between the two chambers. Budget conferees from both chambers are expected to meet privately within the next few weeks to seek a compromise between the two versions of the bill.
Here is an overview of the priority legislation that PSV worked on this session:
Mental Health Parity (Support)
HB 656 (Willett) and SB 524 (Deeds) strengthen reporting requirements for health carriers by issuing major monetary penalties for noncompliant or insufficient comparative analyses submitted to the Bureau of Insurance. It also directs the Department of Health to issue regulations that include quantitative network adequacy standards for timely access to care that are at least as stringent as those imposed for qualified health plans.
After crossover, this legislation was amended to include a delayed enactment clause (July 1, 2027) and a workgroup to study the effects the legislation will have on health insurance plans. Despite heavy opposition from the health insurance carriers, we were able to pass this bill on a near unanimous vote. It now awaits the Governor’s signature.
PSV worked collaboratively with the Behavioral Health Providers Coalition on this legislation.
Medical Education Loan-for-Service Fund (Support)
SB 625 (Deeds), in its’ original form, would have created a “loan for service” fund that would have provided loans to medical students in Virginia and eventually partially or fully forgave those loans if the applicant had agreed to practice in a particular area of the Commonwealth or in a certain specialty.
Unfortunately, because this legislation required State funding in a year in which resources are spread thin, this bill was ultimately tabled in the House Appropriations committee. PSV worked on this legislation collaboratively with the Medical Society of Virginia.
Artificial Intelligence in Therapy Sessions (Support)
SB 269 (Favola), a self-regulatory bill, would have prohibited the use of AI chatbots from making independent therapeutic decisions, interacting directly with clients/patients in therapeutic communications, generating therapeutic recommendations or treatment plans without provider review and approval. The bill would have permitted AI to be used for administrative and supplementary support with disclosure and patient consent.
AI is still a new issue for legislators and there was a lot of concern about issuing new regulations without more data being collected. As a result, this legislation was continued to the 2027 legislative session, meaning it did not pass this year but will be heard again next year.
Eliminating the Cap on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits (Oppose)
SB 99 (Stanley) was this year’s legislation attempting to remove the cap on medical malpractice lawsuits for patients 10 years old or younger. As you will recall from years past, this legislation has been brought forward in various forms over the last few years, and we have so far always been successful in preventing its passage.
While we were successful in once again halting its progression, another medical malpractice bill came forward from Senator Mark Obenshain. His SB 536 was amended after crossover and used as a vehicle to increase the cap on medical malpractice lawsuits from the current $2.7 million to $6 million over the course of the next few years, with certain protections for physicians’ personal assets. This legislation also failed to garner enough votes for passage and was withdrawn from consideration with the guarantee that another version would be brought before the General Assembly next year.
In the interim, the Medical Society of Virginia, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, and other physician leaders will meet periodically with the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association to negotiate on a potential compromise before 2027.
Prescriptive Authority
As promised, Senator Favola introduced a budget amendment that would continue the work of last Summer’s work group which was tasked with examining the possibility of expanding prescriptive authority to clinical psychologists in Virginia.
Same as before, the work group will jointly convene the Board of Medicine and the Board of Psychology for one or two discussion sessions and consist of several clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and other physicians. The work group is tasked with reporting its findings to the Chairs of both health committees by November 1, 2027. Whatever findings the work group produces, the Psychiatric Society of Virginia, in alliance with the Medical Society of Virginia and other physician groups, remains opposed to the proposal of expanding prescribing privileges to underqualified specialties.
For more information on these or any other topics, please contact your lobbyist, Trevor Moncure, at [email protected]
PsychMD PAC
With the 2026 legislative session behind us, it is time to replace our depleted financial resources which we use to gain critical access to key policymakers on the healthcare committees.
Our political action committee uses contributions to support candidates who share our goal to foster a better, safer environment for psychiatric and mental health care. Political contributions allow us to target our message and connect you to important decision makers in Richmond. With your support of the PAC, we can achieve our mission by education legislators about our professional concerns and inform them of the problems we see in our communities on a regular basis.
Please renew your donation to the PAC by visiting our donation page: https://www2.psva.org/forms/PsychMD-PAC.iphtml
Alternatively, you can make out a check to “PSYCHMD PAC” and mail it to 118 North 8th Street, Richmond, VA 23219.
Behavioral Health Providers Coalition
The Psychiatric Society of Virginia is proud to celebrate an extremely productive year of working alongside the Behavioral Health Providers Coalition. This coalition was formed in response to the rising necessity of fair provider pay in the face of increasing mental health needs in Virginia. It represents a wide spectrum of care in the field of mental health and is comprised of leaders from major Virginia provider organizations.
The coalition’s vision is improved mental health care and access to care for all individuals provided by a wide array of behavioral health professionals who are compensated in parity with physical health professionals. Passage of this year’s mental health parity legislation was a major leap forward in achieving this unified goal. We look forward to working with them extensively in the future to further advance the quality of mental health services in Virginia.
To learn more about the coalition, visit their website at https://www.behavioralhealthcoalitionva.com.
