Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Dhhs Overview topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Nevada Assembly HHS adopts committee policies as DHHS director outlines priorities and workforce challenges
Summary
At its first meeting of the 80th legislative session, the Nevada Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services adopted standing committee policies and heard a department-wide briefing from DHHS Director Richard Whitley highlighting Medicaid, workforce shortages, behavioral health needs and settlement-funded programs.
The Nevada Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services voted to adopt its standing committee policies and heard an overview of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) at the panel’s first meeting of the 80th legislative session.
The move to adopt the committee policies was made by Assembly Bevra Gonzales and seconded by Assembly Bevra Gray; the motion carried on a voice vote with no opposed remarks recorded in the transcript.
The committee’s adoption of the policies establishes the rules that will govern how members consider bills, receive testimony and manage committee business this session, Davis Florence, the committee’s policy analyst, told members during an early briefing. Florence also told members the committee’s staff brief includes statistics from the previous session: in 2023 the committee considered 94 bills and resolutions and 69 were enacted by the legislature.
Richard Whitley, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, gave a broad presentation on the department’s organization, functions and priority areas. “We have nearly 7,000 employees,” Whitley said, characterizing DHHS as a large agency that both administers benefits and provides direct services. He described five major divisions and noted staff would provide deeper briefings on each division over the coming weeks.
Whitley highlighted several recurring themes the department expects members to confront this session: workforce shortages for clinicians and behavioral-health professionals; efforts to integrate licensure and certification with Medicaid and Medicare billing; and proposals to create a Nevada Health Authority that could consolidate purchasing and regulatory oversight similar to models in other Western states. He said integrating licensure with payment and oversight could reduce administrative friction for providers seeking certification and state payment.
Whitley described state-operated behavioral-health services as an area of concentrated need, including competency and forensic evaluations that have created time delays in the criminal-justice system. He noted Desert Willow, the state-operated psychiatric hospital for children in Las Vegas, as an example of a unit that faces hiring and staffing pressures similar to other state-run clinical facilities.
The director also reviewed the department’s use of settlement funding: tobacco settlement proceeds, held in the Fund for a Healthy Nevada, are distributed in perpetuity and support prevention and health programs; opioid settlement funds are allocated to state and local recipients with priorities set by statute and by the department. Whitley pointed to rising rates of prenatal substance exposure and said the department is using data and targeted grants to try to expand prenatal care and support services, particularly in Clark County.
On coverage, Whitley reiterated the department’s role in Medicaid and other insurance programs. In response to a question from Assemblymember Hanadi Nadeem about postpartum coverage, Whitley said, “If the recipient is eligible, then yes, they are covered,” and noted that specific eligibility questions are best answered by the Medicaid administrator.
Whitley and staff discussed lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, including investments in facility-based epidemiology and infection control that the department said helped limit facility mortality compared with national peers. He also recommended attention to scope-of-practice changes and reimbursement adjustments (including for paramedicine) as levers to expand access where clinician shortages exist.
Members were told the committee will receive additional briefings from division leaders, including a separate presentation on Medicaid and the proposed Nevada Health Authority. The chair announced the committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 7 at 1:30 p.m.
Votes at a glance: Adopt committee policies — motion by Assembly Bevra Gonzales; second by Assembly Bevra Gray; voice vote, motion carried (tally not recorded in transcript).
