Health Law Monitor

Deregulation = More Flexibility for Hospital Boards

June 15, 2020

By: Alaina N. Crislip and Lindsay D. Petrosky

West Virginia non-profit hospitals and hospitals owned by local governments are no longer required by law to comply with strict board composition requirements. West Virginia Code Section 16-5B-6A required hospitals to maintain at least forty percent of its directors in an equal proportion of four consumer representative categories – small business, organized labor, elderly persons, and lower income consumers. During the 2020 legislative session West Virginia hospitals supported the passage of Senate Bill 767, which repealed the West Virginia Code Section that imposed these mandates on board composition. The repeal went into effect on June 3, 2020. Hospitals, especially small rural hospitals, now have much more flexibility to find and recruit qualified individuals from within their communities to serve on their board.  

To ensure that hospitals are free of these restrictions, they should review the director qualifications provisions of their corporate bylaws to determine if any revisions are needed. Our team at Jackson Kelly PLLC is well equipped to help your hospital prepare any needed revisions to its bylaws and to assist with drafting or revising any policy or board recruitment processes that outline the hospital’s goal to recruit qualified candidates to its board. For further information or advice from us at Jackson Kelly PLLC, feel free to contact either Lindsay Petrosky or Alaina Crislip.