Action | Compliance with Virginia’s Settlement Agreement with US DOJ |
Stage | Final |
Comment Period | Ended on 7/22/2020 |
12VAC35-105-170 H. and 620 D.3. contain substantive changes from the version of the regulations published at the proposed stage which will have a substantial impact on all providers. Both contain the expectation that providers, if cited for any violation of any regulation, will develop and implement a corrective action plan that will prevent recurrence. Prevention of a recurrence is an impossible standard to meet. We can mitigate or minimize risks through plans, but it is not possible for an agency to attest that a plan will absolutely prevent a recurrence. 170 C uses “minimize the possibility” appropriately. Of additional concern is how the Guidance Document for Incident Reporting clearly indicates how the Department intends to enforce this standard through the Progressive Actions for repeat citations. 12VAC35-105-170 H. and 12VAC35-105-620 D.3. should be removed from the Final regulations.