Senate Bill No. 683
(By Senator Prezioso)
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[Introduced February 20, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §49-7-33 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to expanding the definition of
"services" relative to child welfare court proceedings to
include nonhealth care-related services; providing for the
payment of services rendered during court proceedings related
to child welfare cases; and preventing nonapproved providers
of services from seeking payments above the Medicaid rate or
above the customary rate set by the Department of Health and
Human Resources.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §49-7-33 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§49-7-33. Payment of services.
(a) At any time during any proceedings brought pursuant to
articles five and six of this chapter, the court may upon its own
motion, or upon a motion of any party, order the West Virginia
Department of Health and Human Resources to pay for professional
services rendered by a psychologist, psychiatrist, physician,
therapist or other health care professional to a child or other
party to the proceedings. Professional Services include but are
not limited to, treatment, therapy, counseling, evaluation, report
preparation, consultation and preparation of expert testimony
health care and nonhealth care related services, excluding fees
relating to in-court expert testimony. The West Virginia
Department of Health and Human Resources shall set the fee schedule
for such services in accordance with the Medicaid rate, if any, or
the customary rate of the service and adjust the schedule scheduled
rate as appropriate. Every such psychologist, psychiatrist,
physician, therapist or other health care professional individual
or entity, including out-of-state providers, providing the service
shall be paid by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human
Resources upon completion of services and submission of a final
report or other information and documentation as required by the
policies and procedures implemented by the West Virginia Department
of Health and Human Resources.
(b) Any individual or entity providing services, including
out-of-state providers, pursuant to a court order or other authority, and who is not a Medicaid approved provider or any other
approved provider of the Department of Health and Human Resources,
may only be paid the state's share of the costs if the service
qualifies as a Medicaid reimbursable service, or at the customary
rate set by the Department of Health and Human Resources as the
case may be.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand the definition of
"services" relative to child welfare court proceedings to include
nonhealth care related services and to provide for the payment of
services rendered during such court proceedings. The bill also
prevents nonapproved providers of services from seeking payments
above the Medicaid rate or above the customary rate set by the
Department of Health and Human Resources.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.