Governor Glenn Youngkin held a public event at the Patrick Henry Building to highlight progress made under Executive Order 52, which aims to improve oversight of Virginia’s nursing homes. The order, signed in August 2025, has led to significant changes in how the state monitors nearly 300 nursing homes.
Since July 2025, there have been notable increases in hiring within the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Licensure and Certification (OLC). Over 2,300 applications were received for OLC positions, with more than 1,300 targeting Medical Facility Inspector (MFI) roles. Twenty-one MFI positions were filled between July and December 2025—15 in long-term care and six in acute care. Overall vacancies among MFIs dropped from 28 to 11 during this period. In total, 40 OLC positions have been filled since July, including both MFIs and roles supporting operations and leadership. Key leadership hires included a new OLC director and long-term care division director.
A Northern Virginia regional office was established to enhance recruitment and responsiveness in that area. Improvements to human resources processes have reduced average hiring times from over 90 days during 2023–2024 to about 58 days currently.
The state also launched a new digital complaint portal designed to make it easier for residents, families, staff, and advocates to submit concerns about nursing home care. The system issues reference numbers for complaints and helps track their resolution while maintaining other submission options such as phone or mail.
“Virginia families deserve confidence that when a loved one lives in a nursing home, they are safe, respected, and cared for with dignity,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “Today we celebrate real progress. We strengthened staffing, modernized systems that had fallen behind, and increased transparency so families have clearer information and greater trust in oversight and accountability.”
“Families place profound trust in our long-term care system, and that trust must be earned,” said Secretary of Health and Human Resources Janet V. Kelly. “These accomplishments reflect the sustained work to rebuild the systems that support oversight and accountability. The changes now in place create a stronger, more reliable foundation for continued improvement.”
“The Advisory Board was created to keep residents and families at the center of this work,” said Joanna Heiskill of the Nursing Home Oversight and Accountability Advisory Board. “The voices of nursing facility residents and family members must be a priority in this process toward change.”
State Health Commissioner Karen Shelton stated: “Protecting the health and safety of nursing home residents is a core responsibility. These reforms strengthen how we carry out that responsibility by improving oversight capacity and ensuring residents and families have clearer access to information and a more reliable way to raise concerns.”
R. Christopher Lindsay, Chief Operating Officer of the Virginia Department of Health added: “As we rebuilt this office, we focused on fixing the systems and hiring the right leaders and staff to prioritize how concerns are identified and resolved. By strengthening staffing and supervision, and modernizing complaint intake, we have built a foundation to ensure that safe and high-quality care is provided in Virginia’s nursing homes.”
Transparency measures now include an easily accessible link on the OLC website directing users to federal data on nursing home quality metrics such as inspection histories.
Governor Youngkin also established an advisory board comprised of providers, clinicians, advocates, stakeholders—and emphasized its role in promoting resident-centered standards of care.
More details about these efforts can be found at vdh.virginia.gov/licensure-and-certification.