republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2018/hb-1197.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Stroke care; Department of Health shall be responsible for quality improvement initiatives."
description: "Provides that the Department of Health shall be responsible for stroke care quality improvement initiatives in the Commonwealth. Such initiatives shall include (i) establishing systems to collect data and information about stroke care in the Commonwealth, (ii) facilitating information and data sharing and collaboration among hospitals and health care providers to improve the quality of stroke care in the Commonwealth, (iii) requiring the application of evidence-based treatment guidelines for transitioning patients to community-based follow-up care following acute treatment for stroke, and (iv) establishing a process for continuous quality improvement for the delivery of stroke care by the statewide system for stroke response and treatment. The bill also directs the Department of Health to convene a group of stakeholders, which shall include representatives of (a) hospital systems, including at least one hospital system with at least six or more stroke centers in the Commonwealth, recommended by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association; (b) the Virginia Stroke Systems Task Force; and (c) the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, to advise on the implementation of stroke care quality improvement initiatives. The provisions of the bill making the Department of Health responsible for stroke care quality improvement initiatives in the Commonwealth have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 1197"
citation: "Virginia HB 1197 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Health", "Study Commissions", "Committees and Reports"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["T. Scott Garrett"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 22
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2018-01-10"
last_action: "2018-03-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8741fe49-1ba6-4999-8ad0-4a94c02be439"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+sum+HB1197"
source_hash: "58c2438a15dbf2398b5f61c5ade44aace3e252008231220f1d00241a425bfb49"
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 1197 (2018) — Stroke care; Department of Health shall be responsible for quality improvement initiatives.

Provides that the Department of Health shall be responsible for stroke care quality improvement initiatives in the Commonwealth. Such initiatives shall include (i) establishing systems to collect data and information about stroke care in the Commonwealth, (ii) facilitating information and data sharing and collaboration among hospitals and health care providers to improve the quality of stroke care in the Commonwealth, (iii) requiring the application of evidence-based treatment guidelines for transitioning patients to community-based follow-up care following acute treatment for stroke, and (iv) establishing a process for continuous quality improvement for the delivery of stroke care by the statewide system for stroke response and treatment. The bill also directs the Department of Health to convene a group of stakeholders, which shall include representatives of (a) hospital systems, including at least one hospital system with at least six or more stroke centers in the Commonwealth, recommended by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association; (b) the Virginia Stroke Systems Task Force; and (c) the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, to advise on the implementation of stroke care quality improvement initiatives. The provisions of the bill making the Department of Health responsible for stroke care quality improvement initiatives in the Commonwealth have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2019. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

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

1. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB1197ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB1197ER)
2. **House: Committee substitute printed 18106014D-H1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB1197H1)
3. **House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102932D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?181+ful+HB1197)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute — **10–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendment — **40–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE — **98–0** (pass) · legislature
- Senate amendment agreed to by House — **99–0** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **38–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions with substitute — **21–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Education and Health with amendment — **15–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- T. Scott Garrett — primary (person)
- Israel D. O'Quinn — cosponsor (person)
- John J. McGuire, III — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-10** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/18 18102932D `introduction`
- **2018-01-10** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2018-01-18** Assigned HWI sub: Subcommittee #1 `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-05** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2018-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2018-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 18106014D-H1
- **2018-02-06** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1197H1
- **2018-02-07** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2018-02-08** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2018-02-08** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-19** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2018-02-19** Reading of amendment waived
- **2018-02-19** Committee amendment agreed to
- **2018-02-19** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2018-02-21** Placed on Calendar
- **2018-02-21** Senate amendment agreed to by House (99-Y 0-N)
- **2018-02-26** Enrolled
- **2018-02-26** Signed by Speaker
- **2018-02-28** Signed by President
- **2018-03-02** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 2, 2018
- **2018-03-02** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, March 9, 2018
- **2018-03-09** Approved by Governor-Chapter 276 (effective - see bill) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8741fe49-1ba6-4999-8ad0-4a94c02be439`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).