West Virginia Health Law 2025 Legislative Update
May 8, 2025
By: J. Parker Zopp
West Virginia Health Law 2025 Legislative Update
The 2025 Regular Session of the West Virginia Legislature had drama and intrigue as lawmakers considered some high-profile health law legislation. Below is a non-exhaustive recap of legislation related to health matters this session.
S.B. 458 – Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act of 2025
This bill permits individuals who hold an out-of-state license[1] to apply for a reciprocal professional license from the applicable West Virgina licensing board pursuant to Chapter 30 of the West Virginia Code. S.B. 458 affects a variety of medical professionals including physicians and surgeons, podiatrists, physicians assistants, nurses, and dentists.
To receive a reciprocal license, an applicant must either (1) establish residency in West Virginia or (2) be married to an active-duty member of the U.S. armed forces and has accompanied their spouse to an official permanent change of station to a military installation in West Virgina.[2] Further, the applicant must have a current license in good standing in a different state at the same practice level in the discipline and meet the law’s other conditions, such as demonstrating passage of any written or clinical examination required for the license in another state. Upon fulfillment of all requirements, the applicant may receive his or her reciprocal license in West Virginia.[3]
Governor Morrisey signed S.B. 458, and the law becomes effective July 1, 2025.
S.B. 526 – Creating Pharmacist Prescribing Authority Act
This legislation expands a pharmacist’s scope of practice.[4] In addition to existing privileges, pharmacists can now prescribe a subset of drugs that includes drugs (excluding controlled substances) that are in accordance with the product’s FDA-approved labeling, that are limited to conditions for which a relevant patient medication history has been taken, and for which the patient has a waived test that indicates the existence of the following conditions only: influenza, SARS-COV-2, and RSV. Waived tests, as defined by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), are simple tests which have a low risk of erroneous results and harm to the patient.[5] The pharmacist must notify the patient’s primary care physician of the test result and the drug prescribed and dispensed within 72 hours. Pharmacists will also be permitted to refill an expired prescription for an epinephrine injection device that is being used in accordance with its FDA-approved label, for conditions for which a relevant patient medication history has been taken.
Pharmacists should also be aware that any prescription dispensed or prescribed pursuant to the pharmacist’s authority is limited to a 30-day supply within a six-month period. If more than a 10-day supply is prescribed or dispensed, the pharmacist must notify the patient’s primary care physician. If no primary care physician is identified, the pharmacist shall try to refer the patient to one.
The Governor signed this bill, and it goes into effect on July 11, 2025.
H.B. 2402- Relating to providing access to medical records; providing access to a minor’s medical record
S.B. 2402 updates W. Va. Code § 16-29-1(a)(1) to require that a summary of the patient’s medical record be made available to the patient, personal representative, or authorized agent or representative following the termination of the treatment.[6] The current code only permits this ability with respect to treatment of psychiatric or psychological problems. Additionally, the bill removes current exemptions for access to records governed by the AIDS-Related Medical Testing and Records Confidentiality Act.
The bill also adds a new section, W. Va. Code § 16-29-3, which allows a parent, guardian, foster parent, or kinship placement to access the health records of their minor child, with minimal circumstantial exceptions. Such circumstances include if the minor child (1) has graduated high school or equivalate; (2) is emancipated; or (3) is married. Otherwise, the parent, guardian, etc. may access the record without the requirement of a release or authorization by the minor child. Previously, health care providers responsible for diagnosis, treatment, or administering health care services to minors for birth control, prenatal care, drug rehabilitation or related services, or venereal disease were prevented from releasing the minor patient’s medical records without the minor patient’s written consent.
Governor Morrisey signed this bill, and it will go into effect on July 11, 2025.
H.B. 2347- The Joel Archer Substance Abuse Intervention Act
This bill changes the state’s mental hygiene processes, with many of the additions pertaining to substance abuse disorder (SUD).[7] The amendments to W. Va. Code § 27-5-2 are to be known as the Joel Archer Substance Abuse Intervention Act. The Act’s namesake, Joel Archer, was a Kanawha County man who died in 2013 and whose parents continue to advocate for SUD recovery.[8]
The bill also alters involuntary hospitalization proceedings as follows: creates additional grounds for applications for involuntary hospitalization; provides circumstances that may lead to dismissal of involuntary hospitalization proceedings; adds a requirement that an individual may only be removed from hospitalization prior to their probable cause hearing if they agree to voluntary treatment; creates additional grounds for satisfaction of probable cause and involuntary hospitalization standards in mental hygiene proceedings; provides additional required findings by the chief medical officer for determining the continuance of an individual’s involuntary commitment; and adds standards for release from hospitalization.
Not only does the bill seek to aid those who have a mental illness or a SUD, but it also provides civil liability protections in the absence of negligence and bad faith to mental health services providers who perform involuntary custody examinations. It also directs the Department of Health Facilities to reimburse the necessary law-enforcement agencies for the actual costs related to transporting a patient who has been involuntarily committed.[9]
This bill became law without the Governor’s signature[10] and is effective July 11, 2025.
Stalled Out: Legislation That Did Not Cross the Finish Line
While various pieces of important legislation passed this session, what is equally important is the list of bills that came up short for passage. At the top of this list is H.B. 2007, which would have repealed West Virginia’s Certificate of Need (“CON”) process detailed at W. Va. Code §§ 16-2D-1 et seq. While other bills this session sought to chip away at the CON process, Governor Morrisey made it clear in his inaugural address that he would make a total CON repeal a top policy priority of his administration. H.B. 2007 failed to advance from the House Health and Human Resources Committee this February. About a month later, House members dealt it another blow by rejecting a motion to discharge the bill from its committee.
Another marquee bill was S.B. 460. This bill, as originally drafted, would have created religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccination requirements for children entering school. As another one of the Governor’s priorities, this bill, as introduced, would have effectively codified the Governor’s Executive Order 7-25 (“E.O. 7-25”). Citing the fact that West Virginia has some of the strictest vaccination requirements for children in the country, E.O. 7-25 directs the State Health Officer and the Bureau of Public Health to (1) establish a process to permit people with children to object to certain compulsory vaccination requirements; and (2) not enforce the requirements against such objectors. The order also directs those parties to craft necessary legislation to codify these exemptions, and S.B. 460 would have made such codification. While S.B. 460 did not pass, the Governor reinforced his commitment to E.O. 7-25 this week.
Honorable Mentions:
Other health-related legislation that was completed this year includes (but is not limited to) the following:
- S.B. 291 - Extending time frame for pharmacies to register from annually to biennially (Signed; effective 90 days from passage - June 12, 2025)
- S.B. 325 - Authorizing Department of Health to promulgate legislative rules (Signed; effective from passage - April 11, 2025).
- S.B. 456 - Defining "men" and "women" (Signed; effective 90 days from passage - June 9, 2025)
- S.B. 565 - Relating generally to practice of optometry (Became law without Governor’s signature; effective 90 days from passage - July 9, 2025)
- S.B. 710 - Relating to the practice of teledentistry (Signed; effective 90 days from passage - July 11, 2025)
- S.B. 746 - Allowing State Board of Education to delegate its Medicaid provider status to public charter schools (Became law without Governor’s signature; effective 90 days from passage - July 9, 2025)
- S.B. 810 - Clarifying requirements for administration of anesthesia and chronic pain practice by certain licensed nurses (Signed; effective 90 days from passage - July 7, 2025)
- S.B. 833 - Excluding pharmaceutical medication from prior authorization gold card process (Signed; effective from passage - April 11, 2025)
- H.B. 2354 - Banning certain products from food in West Virginia (Signed; effective from passage - March 14, 2025)
- H.B. 3349 - Supplemental Appropriation - Medicaid (Signed; effective from passage - April 12, 2025)
- H.B. 3352 - Supplemental Appropriation - Human Services - Medicaid (Signed; effective from passage - April 12, 2025)
- H.B. 3361 - Supplemental Appropriation - Health, Birth to Three (Signed; effective from passage - April 9, 2025)
- H.B. 3365 - Supplemental Appropriation HLTH Birth to Three (Signed; effective from passage - April 7, 2025)
- H.B. 3444 - Relating to inflammation of the eyes of newborns. (Became law without Governor’s signature; effective 90 days from passage - July 9, 2025)
As always, your Jackson Kelly health care team is ready to advise you or your organization about the new legislation or any other health care compliance matter you may encounter.
[1] While the bill references “licenses, registrations, and certificates,” for simplicity, these will be collectively referred to as “licenses.”
[2] The new applicable code section is W. Va. Code § 30-1-27.
[3] The law specifies that any persons practicing in professions licensed by the West Virginia Board of Medicine or the Board of Osteopathy must be licensed to practice without clinical supervision after successfully completing a graduate medical education program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the American Osteopathic Association, or the Council on Podiatric Medical Education or Colleges of Podiatric Medicine. Dentists must have completed a hand skills examination.
[4] This bill amends W. Va. Code § 30-5-10.
[5] 42 C.F.R. §493.15(b).
[6] S.B. 2402 will amend W. Va. Code § 16-29-1 and add a new code section, §16-29-3.
[7] S.B. 2347 will amend W. Va. Code §§ 27-5-2 and 27-5-4.
[8] Among other items, the bill balances autonomy afforded to those with a SUD with recognizing the dedicated care they still need. For example, under the bill, an individual’s mere refusal to receive SUD services cannot be considered when assessing their judgement with respect to their need for services. At the same time, the bill outlines circumstances that would lead to involuntary hospitalization of an individual with SUD.
[9] Other changes to W. Va. Code § 27-5-4 offer a fresh future for individuals involuntarily committed because of a SUD. First, an individual who was involuntarily committed because of a SUD that then completes a substance use rehabilitation treatment program shall not be considered “a person to be mentally defective” or “having had a prior involuntary commitment to a mental institution” for purposes of firearm possession under W. Va. Code §§ 61-7A-1 et. seq., which would otherwise be a bar to firearm possession. Second, an individual who was involuntarily committed because of a SUD who completes an inpatient or outpatient substance use rehabilitation treatment program may petition to have their name removed from the central state mental health registry.
[10] Under Article VII of the Constitution of West Virginia, completed legislation presented to the governor following the end of the legislative session becomes law if the governor does not sign the bill within fifteen days of the session’s end.