republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2017/hb-1571.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Workers' compensation; fees for medical services."
description: "Provides that the pecuniary liability of an employer for a medical service provided for the treatment of a traumatic injury or serious burn includes liability for any professional service rendered during the dates of service of the admission or transfer to a Level I or Level II trauma center or to a burn center, as applicable. The measure increases the initial charge outlier threshold, which under the stop-loss feature allows hospitals to receive payments or reimbursements that exceed the fee schedule amount for certain claims, from 150 percent of the maximum fee for the service set forth in the applicable fee schedule to 300 percent of such amount. The measure allows the Workers' Compensation Commission to adjust the charge outlier threshold percentage; under existing law, it is allowed only to decrease the percentage. The measure also (i) expands the definition of codes, as used in the provision directing the Commission to establish fee schedules for scheduled medical services, to include revenue codes, which are defined in the bill; (ii) clarifies the definition of \"HCPCS codes\"; (iii) directs the Commission to use the regulatory advisory panel on all matters involving or related to the fee schedule as deemed necessary by the Commission; (iv) adds a definition of \"new type of technology\"; and (v) extends the deadline by which the regulatory advisory panel is required to meet, review, and make recommendations to the Commission from July 1, 2017, to July 1, 2018. The bill contains an emergency clause."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 1571"
citation: "Virginia HB 1571 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Emergency Legislation", "Workers' Compensation"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Peter F. Farrell"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 17
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-02"
last_action: "2017-03-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2ba8f00a-06d0-4f34-91a0-1a1fe88e88dd"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB1571"
source_hash: "9495b3887d71ac791de5913a265dad3adcc16ef8805b763d908edb8dff7a0e97"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 1571 (2017) — Workers' compensation; fees for medical services.

Provides that the pecuniary liability of an employer for a medical service provided for the treatment of a traumatic injury or serious burn includes liability for any professional service rendered during the dates of service of the admission or transfer to a Level I or Level II trauma center or to a burn center, as applicable. The measure increases the initial charge outlier threshold, which under the stop-loss feature allows hospitals to receive payments or reimbursements that exceed the fee schedule amount for certain claims, from 150 percent of the maximum fee for the service set forth in the applicable fee schedule to 300 percent of such amount. The measure allows the Workers' Compensation Commission to adjust the charge outlier threshold percentage; under existing law, it is allowed only to decrease the percentage. The measure also (i) expands the definition of codes, as used in the provision directing the Commission to establish fee schedules for scheduled medical services, to include revenue codes, which are defined in the bill; (ii) clarifies the definition of "HCPCS codes"; (iii) directs the Commission to use the regulatory advisory panel on all matters involving or related to the fee schedule as deemed necessary by the Commission; (iv) adds a definition of "new type of technology"; and (v) extends the deadline by which the regulatory advisory panel is required to meet, review, and make recommendations to the Commission from July 1, 2017, to July 1, 2018. The bill contains an emergency clause.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0478)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0478)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1571ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1571ER)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed with emergency clause; offered 01/13/16 17102180D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1571)
4. **House: Printed as engrossed 17102180D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB1571E)

## Votes

- Passed Senate — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Commerce and Labor — **14–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reconsideration of Senate passage agreed to by Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **96–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Commerce and Labor with amendments — **22–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Peter F. Farrell — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-02** Prefiled and ordered printed with emergency clause; offered 01/13/16 17102180D `introduction`
- **2017-01-02** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-16** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-17** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2017-01-17** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-01-17** Engrossed by House as amended HB1571E
- **2017-01-17** Printed as engrossed 17102180D-E
- **2017-01-18** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (96-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-19** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-19** Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-16** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-20** Enrolled
- **2017-02-20** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-21** Signed by President
- **2017-02-21** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/21/17
- **2017-02-21** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 27, 2017
- **2017-03-13** Approved by Governor-Chapter 478 (effective 3/13/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/2ba8f00a-06d0-4f34-91a0-1a1fe88e88dd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).