Title 32.1, Title 32.1. Health

To preserve original documents, the State Registrar is authorized to prepare typewritten, photographic, electronic, or other reproductions of original vital records in his custody. Such reproductions when certified by him shall be accepted as the original records. The documents f…

A. To protect the integrity of vital records and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the system of vital records, it is unlawful, notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 2.2-3700 through 2.2-3714, for any person to permit inspection of or to disclose information con…

A. In accordance with § 32.1-271 and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto, the State Registrar or a district health department shall, upon receipt of a written request, issue a certified copy of any vital record in the custody of the State Registrar or of a part thereof. The …

A. The Board shall prescribe the fee, not to exceed $15, for a certified copy of a vital record or for a search of the files or records when no copy is made and may establish a reasonable fee schedule related to its cost for information or other data provided for research, statis…

For the purpose of fully automating the system of vital records provided for in this chapter, including the statewide system for decentralizing certification of vital records, there is hereby established the Virginia Vital Statistics Automation Fund. Four dollars of each fee coll…

A. Every person in charge of an institution shall keep a record of personal data concerning each person admitted or confined to such institution. This record shall include such information as required for the certificates of birth, death, and reports of spontaneous fetal death an…

It shall be the duty of any person to furnish such information as he may possess regarding any birth, death, fetal death, marriage or divorce, upon demand of the State Registrar in person, by mail, or through the county, city, or special registrar.

To protect the integrity of vital records and prevent the fraudulent use of birth certificates of deceased persons, the State Registrar is hereby authorized to match birth and death certificates, in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Board, to prove beyond a reasonabl…

Upon receiving a report of the disappearance of any child born in this Commonwealth, the State Registrar shall indicate in a clear and conspicuous manner in the child's birth record that the child has been reported as missing, including the title and location of the law-enforceme…

Any person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of a Class 4 felony: 1. Who willfully and knowingly makes any false statement in a report, record, or certificate required to be filed under this chapter, or in an application for an amendment, certification or verificati…

A. The Board shall provide a Center for Health Statistics to perform data program development, reporting, systems operations, analysis and consultation, for the Department of Health, for county and city departments of health and other public agencies having health-related duties.…

Nothing in this chapter or the actions taken by the Board pursuant to any of its provisions shall be construed as constituting approval by the Commonwealth or any of its agencies or officers of the reasonableness of any charges made or costs incurred by any health care provider.

Any person violating the provisions of this chapter may be enjoined from continuing such violation by application by the Board for relief to a circuit court having jurisdiction over the offending party.

A. The Health Coordination Network Program (the Program) is hereby created to provide a single, statewide technology solution that connects all health care providers, insurance carriers, other organizations with a client or patient relationship, and public health agencies in the …

The General Assembly finds that the establishment of effective health care data analysis and reporting initiatives is essential to improving the quality and efficiency of health care, fostering competition among health care providers, and increasing consumer choice with regard to…

As used in this chapter: "Actual reimbursement amount" means reimbursement information included in the claims data submitted by data suppliers to the Virginia All-Payer Claims Database, whether such information is referred to in the claims data as "paid amounts," "allowed amounts…

A. The Commissioner shall negotiate and enter into contracts or agreements with a nonprofit organization for the compilation, storage, analysis, and evaluation of data submitted by health care providers pursuant to this chapter; for the operation of the All-Payer Claims Database …

A. Every health care provider shall submit data as required pursuant to regulations of the Board, consistent with the recommendations of the nonprofit organization in its strategic plans submitted and approved pursuant to § 32.1-276.4, and as required by this section. Such data s…

A. The Virginia Patient Level Data System is hereby continued, hereinafter referred to as the "System." Its purpose shall be to establish and administer an integrated system for collection and analysis of data which shall be used by consumers, employers, providers, and purchasers…

A. Pursuant to the contract identified in § 32.1-276.4, and consistent with recommendations set forth in strategic plans submitted and approved pursuant to § 32.1-276.4, the nonprofit organization shall administer and modify, as appropriate, the methodology to review and measure …

A. The Virginia All-Payer Claims Database is hereby created to facilitate data-driven, evidence-based improvements in access, quality, and cost of health care and to promote and improve the public health through the understanding of health care expenditure patterns and operation …

A. The Board shall prescribe a reasonable fee for each affected health care provider to cover the costs of the reasonable expenses of establishing and administering the methodology developed pursuant to § 32.1-276.7. The payment of such fees shall be at such time as the Board des…

A. Patient level data collected pursuant to this chapter shall be exempt from the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.), shall be considered confidential, and shall not be disclosed other than as specifically authorized by this chapter; howeve…

A. The Commissioner shall direct the nonprofit organization to establish a work group to study continuing health information needs and to develop recommendations for design, development, and operation of systems and strategies to meet those needs. The work group shall include rep…

The Commissioner shall establish and maintain, for the purpose of conducting medicolegal investigations of deaths and postmortem examinations, an Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which shall include a central office and facilities and such district offices and facilities in …

A Chief Medical Examiner, who shall be a forensic pathologist licensed to practice medicine in this Commonwealth, shall be appointed by the Commissioner with the approval of the Board.

A. The Chief Medical Examiner shall carry out the provisions of this article under the direction of the Commissioner. The Chief Medical Examiner may, with the approval of the Commissioner, employ forensic pathologists to serve as Assistant Chief Medical Examiners in the central a…

In the investigation of any death or for the performance of any autopsy authorized or required pursuant to this article, the Commissioner may enter into an agreement for the provision of services with a qualified pathologist or consultant, designated by the Chief Medical Examiner…

A. The Chief Medical Examiner may appoint for each county and city one or more medical examiners, who shall be licensed as a doctor of medicine or osteopathic medicine, a physician assistant, or an advanced practice registered nurse in the Commonwealth and appointed as agents of …

The Chief Medical Examiner may appoint per diem medicolegal death investigators, who shall have knowledge of standards and procedures for medicolegal death investigations, to assist the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner with medicolegal death investigations. Per diem medicoleg…

A. Upon the death of any person from trauma, injury, violence, poisoning, accident, suicide, or homicide, or suddenly when in apparent good health, or when unattended by a physician, or in jail, prison, or other correctional institution, or in police custody, or who was at the ti…

A. There is hereby created the State Child Fatality Review Team, referred to in this section as "the Team," which shall develop and implement procedures to ensure that child deaths occurring in Virginia are analyzed in a systematic way. The Team shall review (i) violent and unnat…

A. Upon the initiative of any local or regional law-enforcement agency, fire department, department of social services, emergency medical services agency, attorney for the Commonwealth's office, or community services board, local or regional child fatality teams may be establishe…

A. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shall develop a model protocol for the development and implementation of local family violence fatality review teams (teams) and such model protocol shall include relevant procedures for conducting reviews of fatal family violence incid…

A. Confidential records and information obtained from private and public entities and provided to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner during the course of a death investigation shall remain confidential and shall not be subject to the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of In…

A. There is hereby created the Adult Fatality Review Team, referred to in this section as "the Team," which shall develop and implement procedures to ensure that adult deaths occurring in the Commonwealth are analyzed in a systematic way. The Team shall review the death of any pe…

A. Upon the initiative of any local or regional law-enforcement agency, department of social services, emergency medical services agency, attorney for the Commonwealth's office, community services board, or official with the Adult Protective Services Unit established pursuant to …

A. Any county or city, or combination of counties, cities, or counties and cities, may establish a local or regional overdose fatality review team for the purpose of (i) conducting contemporaneous reviews of local overdose deaths, (ii) promoting cooperation and coordination among…

A. As used in this section, "maternal death" means the death of a woman who was pregnant at the time of death or within one year prior to the time of death, regardless of the outcome of the pregnancy, including any death determined to be a natural death, unnatural death, or viole…

A. Any county or city, or combination of counties, cities, or counties and cities, may establish a local or regional suicide fatality review team for the purpose of (i) conducting contemporaneous reviews of local deaths from suicide, including suicide deaths of military service m…

A. If, in the opinion of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, it is advisable and in the public interest that an autopsy be made as part of the investigation of the death, or if an autopsy is requested by the attorney for the Commonwealth or by a judge of the circuit court o…

An autopsy shall be performed in the case of any infant death which is suspected to be attributable to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). For the purposes of this section, "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" (SIDS), a diagnosis of exclusion, means the sudden and unexpected death of …

A. In any case of death described in subsection A of § 32.1-283, where the body is buried without investigation by the Chief Medical Examiner, an Assistant Chief Medical Examiner, or a medical examiner appointed pursuant to § 32.1-282 into the cause and manner of death or where s…

As used in this Act, unless the context requires otherwise: "Adult" means an individual who is at least 18 years of age. "Agent" means an individual: 1. Authorized to make health-care decisions on the principal's behalf by a power of attorney for health care; or 2. Expressly auth…

A. In order to save lives by reducing the shortage of organs and tissues for transplantation and to implement cost savings for patients and various state agencies by eliminating needless bureaucracy, there is hereby established the Virginia Donor Registry (hereinafter referred to…

The provisions of § 54.1-2972 shall be applicable for the purposes of this article.