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Public commenters urge more Medicaid billing support and licensed school nurses
Summary
Members heard public comments calling for more technical support to help districts bill Medicaid for school-based services and for legislating licensed school nurses as specialized support positions in every school. DBHDS and DOE described existing grant funding and technical-assistance efforts.
Public commenters urged the committee to address two implementation gaps: helping districts draw down Medicaid for billable school-based services and ensuring access to licensed professional nurses in schools.
Austin Wright of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy told the committee that, as of a recent review, only 43 of 131 Virginia school divisions were billing Medicaid for non‑IEP services and asked the committee to review whether SB 73’s enacted language provides adequate support for districts. He recommended the committee assess whether DMAS and VDH have sufficient resources to inform districts and reduce barriers to billing.
Committee members discussed the 15 million dollars in DBHDS state general funds for school-based mental-health services that DBHDS described: approximately $7.5 million of that was distributed to school divisions through a request-for-applications process, expanding from an initial pilot of six divisions in 2023 to 39 divisions statewide. Members asked DBHDS for an update on the program’s spending and any remaining funds available for expansion.
Dr. Dana Ramirez, a pediatrician speaking for the Virginia chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, urged designating a licensed professional nurse as one of the specialized student-support positions in every school, saying that “having a licensed professional nurse in schools all day, every day improves the overall health of our school age children” and noting nurses’ role in timely identification, communicable-disease surveillance and managing chronic conditions. The committee agreed to schedule a briefing on the Standards of Quality and the potential fiscal implications at a future meeting.
