RICHMOND, Va. — A group of state lawmakers from both political parties is trying to make healthcare better for people living in rural areas of Virginia.
They've studied the issues for the last year while visiting different parts of Virginia and are preparing to share their findings, and recommendations, to the Virginia General Assembly when it meets in 2025.
Some important topics they want to tackle include transportation, telehealth services, and hiring more healthcare workers.
Committee Chair Rodney Willett (D-Henrico) grew up in rural Prince Edward County.
He remembers driving to Richmond as a child to get medical and dental checkups, but not all his friends could go because they did not have good transportation.
Willett said that when the committee traveled around the state to get feedback, transportation was the biggest issue people mentioned.
To help with this, the committee plans to propose programs that will assist people in getting to their medical appointments.
When it comes to telehealth, the committee wants to create healthcare hubs in places like pharmacies and schools.
They also want to allow phone medical visits in areas where internet service is too weak for video calls.
The lawmakers are also concerned about the shortage of healthcare workers.
They are suggesting grant programs and childcare support for medical workers to help solve this problem.
Willett said that while these ideas are designed to help rural Virginia, many of the issues are important for people all over the state.
"There’s a strong interest from both parties to help rural areas, but similar needs exist in parts of western Henrico, which isn’t a rural county," Willett said.
On the topic of obesity, one recommendation coming from the committee is lowering the threshold to access weight loss drugs on Medicaid.
Another important topic they are looking at is maternal health, which was also discussed during a recent event with Governor Glenn Youngkin.
"In 2021 there were 64 pregnancy-associated deaths in the Commonwealth of Virginia," Youngkin said.
He said of that number, experts estimate 80% were medically preventable, and among his goals to address the issue is an executive directive to report actionable data on maternal mortality, expanding doula and community health worker programs, and allowing midwives licensed in other states to work here.
"The combination of some real common sense access, telemedicine, and mobile on top of using the managed care organizations to target better and building workforce, have to work together in order to close this gap," he said.
Many of the recommendations will be reliant on finding the funding.
That really starts to come together on Wednesday when Youngkin will kick off the budget process with a presentation of his proposed amendments.
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