03/19/2026

Update: SB536

Dear Colleagues,

I want to share an important update on Senate Bill 536 (SB 536), the medical malpractice bill considered during the 2026 Virginia General Assembly session.

Earlier in the session, SB 536 was heavily amended in the House of Delegates into a broad medical malpractice overhaul. That version would have more than doubled Virginia’s medical malpractice cap to $6 million by 2027, expanded the statute of limitations via a broader discovery rule, and allowed up to two years of prejudgment interest to be awarded on top of the cap. Physician organizations, hospitals, malpractice carriers, and business groups warned that this package would significantly increase liability exposure, drive premiums higher, and threaten access to care—especially in high‑risk specialties and safety‑net settings.

VAHO and the Richmond Academy of Medicine (RAM), and many other physician groups mobilized quickly against this version of SB 536. VAHO issued strong public statements about the risks of rushing such a sweeping change under unusual, late‑session circumstances, and RAM’s “Leg.Up” update likewise alerted physicians that the bill, as then written, would raise the cap to $6 million and allow prejudgment interest beyond that amount. Intensive advocacy from organized medicine and aligned stakeholders made clear to legislators that this approach was unacceptable.

In response to this pushback, the General Assembly ultimately changed course in conference committee. The conference substitute for SB 536 removed the cap‑doubling provisions, the expanded statute of limitations language, and the prejudgment of interest changes. Instead, the bill was rewritten as a data‑collection and reporting measure focused on medical malpractice insurance in Virginia. The final version directs malpractice insurers to report specific claims and premium information to the state so policymakers can better understand trends and consider any future reforms based on actual data.

Both chambers have now agreed to this conference report. As a result, there will be no immediate change to Virginia’s existing malpractice cap or the basic statute of limitations this year. The “consensus” outcome at the end of the session is to gather better information first and revisit structural changes, if warranted, in a more deliberate way in the future.

This result reflects a significant advocacy success by physician leaders who engaged legislators, shared real‑world practice and access‑to‑care concerns, and helped steer SB 536 away from abrupt, far‑reaching liability expansion. Going forward, the new reporting requirements will likely frame the next round of discussions about malpractice reform in Virginia, but any future proposals will occur against the backdrop of this year’s strong and unified physician response.Please stay tuned for additional updates as the state implements the new data‑reporting framework and as we learn more about how the information collected under SB 536 will be used in future policy debates.

Sincerely,

Richard Ingram, MD, FASCO
President Virginia Association of Hematologists Oncologists
400 Campus Blvd., Suite 100
Winchester, VA 22601
O:540-662-1108 | C:540-974-7845