Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

The Virginia Department of Health is working to improve its oversight of nursing home facilities, addressing deficiencies and a backlog of overdue inspections. Officials plan to adopt new sanction criteria by year-end, which would penalize facilities for repeated or similar violations on consecutive inspections. To boost resources, VDH has focused on hiring trained inspectors and adjusting the training process while receiving support for increased licensing fees.