Virginia Law

A. The commissioner shall issue his decision in writing within 45 days of receipt of the authority's recommendation. However, if the commissioner has requested supplemental information from the applicants, the commissioner shall have 15 days, following receipt of the supplemental information, to issue a decision.

B. At the request of the applicants, the commissioner may delay issue of his decision to provide additional time to review the record.

C. The commissioner may condition approval of the letter authorizing cooperative agreement upon the applicants' commitment to achieving the improvements in population health, access to health care services, quality, and cost efficiencies identified by the applicants in support of their application. Such conditions may include:

1. A cap on the negotiated case-mix adjusted revenue per discharge by payer by product. The method for calculating such a case-mix shall be published on the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Licensure and Certification's website in a guidance document. The department may rely on third-party auditors to assist in determining the method for determining such caps, such caps' levels, and a plan for monitoring compliance;

2. A commitment to return a portion of the cost savings and efficiencies gained through the cooperative agreement to residents in the participating localities through specific proposed mechanisms;

3. An agreement that the parties shall not prevent or discourage health plans from directing or incentivizing patients to choose certain providers; the parties shall not have any contractual clauses or provisions that prevent health plans from directing or incentivizing patients;

4. An agreement that the parties shall not engage in the tying of sales of the health system's services with the health plan's purchase of other services from the health system;

5. An agreement that the parties shall not restrict a health plan's ability to make available to its health plan enrollees cost, quality, efficiency, and performance information to aid enrollees in evaluating and selecting providers in the health plan; and

6. A commitment that the parties shall not refuse to include certain provisions in contracts with health plans that have been utilized in health plan contracts in other parts of the Commonwealth in order to promote value-based health care, including bundled payments, pay for performance, utilization management, and other processes that reward improvements in quality and efficiency.

D. The commissioner's decision to approve or deny an application shall constitute a case decision pursuant to the Virginia Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq. of the Code of Virginia).