                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA HEALTH WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY; PURPOSE (§ 32.1-122.7)

A. There is hereby created as a public body corporate and as a political
subdivision of the Commonwealth the Virginia Health Workforce Development
Authority (the Authority), with such public and corporate powers as are set
forth in &#xA7; 32.1-122.7:2. The Authority is hereby constituted as a public
instrumentality, exercising public and essential governmental functions with the
power and purpose to provide for the health, welfare, convenience, knowledge,
benefit, and prosperity of the residents of the Commonwealth and such other
persons who might be served by the Authority. The Authority is established to
move the Commonwealth forward in achieving its vision of ensuring a quality
health workforce for all Virginians.

B. The mission of the Authority is to facilitate the development of a statewide
health professions pipeline that identifies, educates, recruits, and retains a
diverse, appropriately geographically distributed, and culturally competent
quality workforce. The mission of the Authority is accomplished by (i) providing
the statewide infrastructure required for health workforce needs assessment and
planning that maintains engagement by health professions training programs in
decision making and program implementation; (ii) serving as the advisory board
and setting priorities for the Virginia Area Health Education Centers Program;
(iii) coordinating with and serving as a resource to relevant state, regional,
and local entities, including the Department of Health Professions Workforce
Data Center, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the Joint
Commission on Health Care, the Behavioral Health Commission, the Southwest
Virginia Health Authority, or any similar regional health authority that may be
developed; (iv) informing state and local policy development as it pertains to
health care delivery, training, and education; (v) identifying and promoting
evidence-based strategies for health workforce pipeline development and
interdisciplinary health care service models, particularly those affecting rural
and other underserved areas; (vi) supporting communities in their health
workforce recruitment and retention efforts and developing partnerships and
promoting models of participatory engagement with business and community-based
and social organizations to foster integration of health care training and
education; (vii) setting priorities for and evaluating graduate medical
education programs overseen by the Commonwealth; (viii) advocating for programs
that will result in reducing the debt load of newly trained health
professionals; (ix) setting priorities for and managing the Virginia Health Care
Career and Technical Training and Education Fund; (x) identifying high priority
target areas within each region of the Commonwealth and working toward health
workforce development initiatives that improve health measurably in those areas;
(xi) fostering or creating innovative health workforce development models that
provide both health and economic benefits to the regions they serve; (xii)
developing strategies to increase diversity in the health workforce by examining
demographic data on race and ethnicity in training programs and health
professional licensure; (xiii) identifying ways to leverage technology to
increase access to health workforce training and health care delivery; and (xiv)
developing a centralized health care careers roadmap in partnership with the
Department of Health Professions that includes information on both licensed and
unlicensed professions and that is disseminated to the Commonwealth&#8217;s
health care workforce stakeholders to raise awareness about available career
pathways.

HISTORY: 1990, cc. 874, 877; 1997, c. 329; 2000, c. 480; 2010, cc. 187, 488;
2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 264; 2024, cc. 754, 761.