§18B-16-6 Creation of the West Virginia rural health advisory panel. - West Virginia Statutes

§18B-16-6. Creation of the West Virginia rural health advisory panel.
(a) The West Virginia rural health advisory panel is hereby created and the rural health initiative advisory panel is hereby terminated as of the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five. The advisory panel, which shall be appointed by the governor after consulting with the vice chancellor, shall consist of one community representative from each of the consortia of primary health care education sites; five members shall be rural health care providers, two of whom shall be representatives of rural health care facilities selected from such lists as may be submitted by associations interested or involved in the provision of rural health care, two of whom shall be physicians engaged in the private practice of rural medicine, and one of whom shall be an advanced nurse practitioner or a nurse midwife with experience in rural health care delivery; the dean or designee from each of the participating health sciences schools, ex officio; one representative from private colleges; one representative from the state college system; one site coordinator; the commissioner of public health, ex officio; and the director of the office of community and rural health services, ex officio. Except for the ex officio members, members of the panel shall serve for staggered three-year terms: Provided, That one third of the initial appointments shall be designated by the governor for one-year terms and one third of the initial appointments shall be designated by the governor for two-year terms.

Members of the advisory panel shall be reimbursed for the cost of reasonable and necessary expenses actually incurred in the performance of their duties: Provided, That members of the panel who are employed by the state of West Virginia shall not be reimbursed for their expenses under the provisions of this section.

(b) The functions and duties of the panel are to recommend policies and procedures to the vice chancellor related to the rural health initiative and to oversee and coordinate implementation of those policies and procedures.

(c) The advisory panel has the power and the duty to recommend rural health care facilities to be established as primary health care education sites. Such recommendation shall be made to the vice chancellor in accordance with the criteria set forth in section seven of this article. After review of the proposals submitted to the vice chancellor by the schools of medicine pursuant to section eight of this article, the panel's recommendation shall include an estimation of the costs to be allocated per site from available funds in the university of West Virginia health sciences account in the line item designated for rural health initiative site support.

(d) The advisory panel shall adopt guidelines regarding the application by rural health care facilities for selection as primary health care education sites and shall approve an application form which provides the panel with sufficient information to consider the criteria set forth in section eight of this article. The guidelines and application shall be sent by registered mail to each rural health care facility in the state as soon as practicable after the effective date of this section.

(e) The advisory panel shall provide an ongoing evaluation of the rural health initiative and shall make the reports required under this article.

(f) For purposes of addressing primary care physician and other health care provider recruitment and retention efforts, there is hereby created within the rural health advisory panel a committee on recruitment and retention, which shall include member representatives of health care providers, consumers, members of the advisory panel and the health sciences schools. All member representatives shall be selected by the vice chancellor for health sciences in conjunction with the director of the office of community and rural health. All operational costs of the recruitment and retention committee shall be paid by the rural health advisory panel.

(1) The recruitment and retention committee and the vice chancellor of health sciences, in conjunction with the director of the office of community and rural health services, may facilitate statewide and interagency coordination of the recruitment and retention of primary care physicians and other health care related providers to serve the state of West Virginia.

(2) Such responsibility for and coordination of primary care physician recruitment and retention efforts shall include, but are not limited to, working cooperatively with health care agencies and economic development agencies of the state.

(3) As part of its duties, the recruitment and retention committee shall provide by the thirty-first day of December, one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, and no less than annually thereafter, a report of its findings to the legislative oversight commission on education accountability and the legislative oversight commission on health and human resources accountability. The report shall address the success of the state's primary care physician and other health care related provider recruitment and retention efforts, recommendations for improvements in all related areas of recruitment and retention efforts, recommendations for statutory or regulatory changes, as well as any other matters which the recruitment and retention committee or the rural health advisory panel deems relevant to carrying out the intent of this article.