RICHMOND, Va. — An initiative that aims to improve nursing home care in Virginia is picking back up again.
The state's nursing home oversight advisory board will soon meet for the first time under Governor Abigail Spanberger's administration. The board was first established through an executive order issued by former Governor Glenn Youngkin in August of last year.
“Nursing home oversight is important, and this is why we're continuing it," Health and Human Resources Secretary Marvin Figueroa told CBS 6 Friday when asked why Spanberger's administration felt it was important to resume the effort. "I think to me right now, the numbers that I'm seeing, the stories that we're hearing concern me.”
Poor quality in long-term care facilities has been the subject of CBS 6 investigations over the past two years, as families have filed complaints about nursing homes in increasing numbers.
In response to those concerns, Youngkin formed an advisory board to make recommendations on how to strengthen oversight and accountability. The board met three times, with its last meeting occurring in November 2025, and issued a final report in January 2026.
Watch: Youngkin-era nursing home board releases final report: Advocates, industry voices split on its impact
Under the Spanberger administration, the board will resume activity with a new, but smaller, roster.
The panel will now be chaired by the state's health commissioner and Medicaid agency director, Dr. Cameron Webb and Steve Ford. The rest of the body consists of three industry professionals, four government officials, three consumer advocates, and a consultant.
The next meeting is set for Tuesday, July 28, at the Virginia Department of Health's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at 8850 Times Dispatch Boulevard in Mechanicsville. The meeting is open to the public and will include an opportunity for people to share their comments with the board.
“What's your goal for the board? Do you have any specific objectives and specific issues that you would like to see addressed?” reporter Tyler Layne asked Sec. Figueroa.
“The question I want to answer is how do we approach this in a systemic way? I think there's a lot that this advisory board is going to be able to answer to fill in the blanks," he responded. "I want to be able to hold folks accountable, but I want people to know what I'm holding them accountable for. And then what are the transparency measures that we need for the public to know that when they're putting their loved one into one of these facilities, that they are actually going to get quality care."
Figueroa said right now, he feels the state's oversight structure is limited in that it addresses individual problems as they arise but falls short in providing systemic solutions.
“We don't have a system that looks at the things that are not going well and tries to learn from them, address them, so that we don't have to have that issue happen again," Figueroa said.
“How can you assure residents and families that this won't just be lip service? There will be real action behind this?" Layne asked Figueroa about the board.
“We need to identify things that are actionable, and we need to give ourselves timelines, and we need to hold ourselves accountable for meeting those timelines," he said.
Here's the full roster of the board:
- Dr. Cameron Webb, State Health Commissioner (co-chair), Virginia Department of Health
- Steve Ford, Director (co-chair), Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services
- Brad Dalton, Chief Operating Officer, American Health Care, LLC
- Virginia Health Care Association
- John Becker, Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President, Williamsburg Landing
- Leading Age Virginia
- Donna Shaw, Regional Director, Marquis Health
- Virginians Advocating for Seniors
- Joani Latimer, State Long Term Care Ombudsman, Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services
- Claire Morris, Director, Virginia State Board of Nursing
- Corie Tilman Wolf, Director, Virginia State Board of Long Term Care Administrators
- Emily Hardy, Deputy Director and Elder Law Attorney, Virginia Poverty Law Center
- Carla Hesseltine, Chair, Commonwealth Council on Aging
- Karen Kimsey, Founder, Walela Health Consulting
- Joanna Heiskill, The Advocate Voice Virginia
- James Dau, State Director, Virginia AARP
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky | Facebook | Instagram | X | Threads | TikTok | YouTube
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. To learn more about how we use AI in our newsroom, click here.
