VA SB 500
Status unknownHealth insurance; prior authorization for health care services.
Virginia · 2026 Regular Session · upper
Quick answers
Did VA SB 500 pass?
The current status of VA SB 500 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-01-26): Passed by indefinitely in Commerce and Labor (9-Y 6-N)
What is VA SB 500 about?
Health insurance; prior authorization for health care services. Decreases from 72 hours to 24 hours and from seven days to five days the time by which a health insurance carrier is required to respond to expedited and standard requests for prior authorization for health care services, respectively. The bill prohibits a carrier from (i) denying a claim for the provision of dental services by a dentist or oral surgeon for failure to obtain prior authorization if the dentist or oral surgeon calls the dental plan during business hours to obtain such prior authorization and is unable to reach the dental plan or is placed on hold for longer than 15 minutes and (ii) downcoding a claim if a prior authorization was approved. The bill requires carriers to establish a system in which providers with high prior authorization approval rates are not required to obtain prior authorization for routine health care services. Additionally, the bill provides that if a prior authorization request is denied, the carrier is required to notify providers and enrollees if artificial-intelligence based tools were used in reviewing the request.
Who sponsors VA SB 500?
Bill DeSteph is the primary sponsor of VA SB 500.
Description
Health insurance; prior authorization for health care services. Decreases from 72 hours to 24 hours and from seven days to five days the time by which a health insurance carrier is required to respond to expedited and standard requests for prior authorization for health care services, respectively. The bill prohibits a carrier from (i) denying a claim for the provision of dental services by a dentist or oral surgeon for failure to obtain prior authorization if the dentist or oral surgeon calls the dental plan during business hours to obtain such prior authorization and is unable to reach the dental plan or is placed on hold for longer than 15 minutes and (ii) downcoding a claim if a prior authorization was approved. The bill requires carriers to establish a system in which providers with high prior authorization approval rates are not required to obtain prior authorization for routine health care services. Additionally, the bill provides that if a prior authorization request is denied, the carrier is required to notify providers and enrollees if artificial-intelligence based tools were used in reviewing the request.
- Introduced
- 2026-01-13
- Latest action
- 2026-01-26 — Passed by indefinitely in Commerce and Labor (9-Y 6-N)
- Bill type
- bill
- Last updated
- —
Sponsors
- Bill DeStephprimary
Committees
Not provided by source.
Action timeline
2026-01-13
Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26105340D
filing,introduction
2026-01-13
Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor
referral-committee
2026-01-26
Senate committee offered
2026-01-26
Passed by indefinitely in Commerce and Labor (9-Y 6-N)
deferral
Versions
Documents
Votes
Passed by indefinitely in Commerce and Labor
2026-01-26 · pass · 9-6
Member-level votes (15)
- R. Creigh Deeds: yes
- Mark D. Obenshain: no
- L. Louise Lucas: yes
- David W. Marsden: yes
- Adam P. Ebbin: yes
- Scott A. Surovell: yes
- William M. Stanley, Jr.: no
- Ryan T. McDougle: no
- Mamie E. Locke: yes
- Bryce E. Reeves: no
- Bill DeSteph: no
- Jeremy S. McPike: yes
- Mark J. Peake: no
- Aaron R. Rouse: yes
- Lamont Bagby: yes
Related bills
No related bills recorded for this bill.
Official source
Attribution
Data from openstates_bulk_csv, retrieved 2026-07-24T05:35:59.552682Z
Inspect retained evidence for changes recorded after evidence tracking began:
Use this data
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