Professor Shelly Smith Named to Virginia Task Force on Primary Care’s Spend Committee

Professor and primary care nurse practitioner Shelly Smith, associate dean for graduate nursing programs, was appointed by the Virginia Center for Health Innovation (VCHI) to the Virginia Task Force on Primary Care’s spend target subcommittee.

The appointment follows Smith’s appointment by Gov. Glenn Youngkin last summer to the 14-member Virginia Board of Nursing.

The 14-member VCHI subcommittee of which Smith is a part, which includes Del. Mark Sickles and Sen. Todd Pillion, will work on enhancing primary care spending throughout Virginia and across payers based on best practices and evidence-based policies.

The 14-member VCHI subcommittee of which Smith is a part will work on enhancing primary care spending throughout Virginia and across payers based on best practices and evidence-based policies. A robust primary care infrastructure is associated with increased life expectancy, fewer avoidable emergency department visits, preventable inpatient admissions, and higher vaccination rates, as well as better health overall.

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A robust primary care infrastructure is associated with increased life expectancy, fewer avoidable emergency department visits, preventable inpatient admissions, and higher vaccination rates, as well as better health overall. Putting into place greater incentives for Virginians to seek and get primary care will improve the overall health in the Commonwealth.

Smith, who recently completed a two-year term as a member of the Virginia Healthcare Workforce Development Authority, will work with the group’s 57 members to promote and support primary care as the foundation of health in Virginia. Members are comprised of front-line providers, health system administrators, health plans, employers, patient representatives, state officials, and General Assembly members, and will work across three priorities over the coming year, including integrated behavioral health, enhancing primary care spending targets, and incorporating technology, including AI, into primary care practices to reduce provider burnout and improve the quality of care.

Smith, who teaches DNP students at UVA and worked to establish the School's new BSN to DNP program that will debut in fall 2025, is among the state’s leading clinician-advocates who frequently lends her voice and expertise at the Virginia General Assembly, providing expert testimony during legislative sessions, at caucus, subcommittee, and committee meetings. Through that work, she has helped shape House Bills 793, HB 1600, and Senate Bill 170, as well as, more recently, House Bill 971, which recently passed, importantly reducing the transition to practice period for nurse practitioners from five years to three and was several years in the making.

Smith is an American Academy of Nursing Fellow, was named a Distinguished Policy Fellow for the National Academy of Practice, is a Wilder School of Government & Public Policy Translational Research Fellow alumna, and an AACN Leadership for Academic Nursing Program alumna. She’s earned multiple awards, too, including an NP State Excellence Award from the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners in 2021, Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners’ (VCNP) Distinguished NP Award in 2019, and a Distinguished Nurse Practitioner Award from the Richmond chapter of the VCNP.

With her UVA colleagues, she's helped develop a new BSN to DNP pathway program that will debut in fall 2025.

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