Category: Governance
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The Impact of Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need Laws on Nursing Home and Home Health Care Availability and Expenditures
by James C. Sherlock I have come across a major study in the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine that made a point that I have not explored sufficiently to this point. It discusses the intersection of nursing homes, home health care, CON laws like Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law, and…
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National Academy of Sciences Offers Superb Recommendations for Fixing Virginia’s Nursing Home Crisis
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes, we need to listen. I just finished the 806-page 2022 report “The National Imperative to Improve Nursing Home Quality: Honoring Our Commitment to Residents, Families, and Staff” by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). It is downloadable at the link. That study and report were utterly professional and thorough, as…
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Youngkin’s “Bromance” with Petersburg’s Mayor
by Kerry Dougherty They tried. Lord knows they did their best to find fault. But even the leftie Washington Post was forced to hold its nose and admit that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s commitment to his signature program — “Partnership for Petersburg” — is genuine and getting results. For more than a year, Youngkin has been…
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University Boards’ Primary Duty is to the Commonwealth, AG Says
by James A. Bacon The primary duty of board members of Virginia’s public colleges and universities is to the commonwealth, not to the individual institutions, Attorney General Jason Miyares wrote Monday in response to an advisory opinion requested by Governor Glenn Younkin. According to Miyares’ missive, Youngkin asked whether Virginia law imposes upon boards of visitors…
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Questions and Doubts (About the Nature of Some Politicians)
by Joe Fitzgerald When I had a meeting set up with (JMU President) Ron Carrier soon after I was elected to (Harrisonburg) City Council in 2000, someone warned me that he would change the time at the last minute just to show he was more important than me. He did, and maybe he was. But…
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Integrity Should Go Both Ways
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin talks a lot about election integrity. By that, he obviously means keeping people ineligible to vote from voting. However, integrity cuts another way, as well. It means allowing people who are eligible to vote the opportunity to vote. The governor’s Department of Elections (Elections) seems not to worry too much…
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Virginia Deserves a Parole Board that Puts Public Safety First
by Kerry Dougherty When Terry McAuliffe was governor he found a loyal Democrat lawyer to appoint to head Virginia’s parole board. That was Adrianne Bennett, a failed candidate for the House of Delegates in 2011 and undoubtedly the most controversial parole board chair in Virginia history. She was a success if you believe, as McAuliffe…
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The Virginia State Budget and the Rising Costs of Registered Nurses
by James C. Sherlock I was asked yesterday by a reader about the relationship between nursing homes, rising registered nurse salaries and the new Virginia budget agreement. Good questions. Virginia’s workforce includes nearly 70,000 registered nurses. The state pays its workers, but it also pays its Medicaid share for private sector nurses. Pay for private…
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An Overdue New Federal Rule to Improve Nursing Home Staffing
By James C. Sherlock What would happen if the federal government were to propose for the first time specific nursing home staffing minimums? We are about to find out. A new rule. A new federal proposed rule introduced yesterday has already survived fierce opposition from the industry, which tried to kill it in the womb.…
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A Small Victory – So Far – for Common Sense and Flood Mitigation in Virginia Beach
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes things work. Perhaps they will this time. There was a time in Virginia Beach when a partnership between a developer and a church to build new houses would have breezed through the Planning Commission and the City Council. That kind of open season on clearing and building on Virginia Beach’s…
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Skating Past FOIA in Harrisonburg
by Joe Fitzgerald Public officials will sometimes self-censor their emails, memos, and even texts for fear they’ll be embarrassed or caught telling the truth if a Freedom of Information request is filed. You’d think that caution would make them better communicators. Recent history proves that’s not the case. Sometimes it seems the Freedom of Information…
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Loudoun Supervisors Defend Exorbitant Junkets
by Ram Venkatachalam Until recently, members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors haven’t tried to sell themselves as international diplomats and business development experts. They aren’t. Nor do we have a long history of waste, fraud, and abuse when it comes to how members of local government spend our tax dollars, especially for money…
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Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need Program – A New Sheriff in Town
by James C. Sherlock Everywhere counterproductive to competition, innovation and cost, Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) program also has proven antithetical to quality and safety in nursing homes. A thorough 2022 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on improving nursing home quality had this to say about state Certificate of…
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New Virginia Nursing Home Law Appears to Violate Federal Statute
by James C. Sherlock In addition to the General Assembly embarrassing themselves in the way they passed a law on nursing homes in this year’s session, they did it in an unseemly rush. There was no pre-filing, a near-immediate and disgraceful floor “debate” led by the nursing industry’s lobbyist, and a rushed vote in the…
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The Ongoing Tragedy of Virginia’s Nursing Homes
by James C. Sherlock Virginia’s Health Commissioners have a job that is broad and deep in its responsibilities and authorities.By statute, appointees must be physicians. Each is the chief executive of the Virginia Department of Health (VDH): a central office in Richmond and 35 local health districts. By Virginia statutes and regulations, they are also…