RICHMOND, Va — Frustrated families of nursing home residents are once again demanding more action from state leaders as they say their loved ones are receiving poor care and being mistreated in facilities.
Several attended the state's Nursing Home Oversight Advisory Panel on Wednesday to give testimony about what their loved ones have experienced.
“She's not getting her medication. She's not being fed properly. She's not getting the proper hygiene that we were told we were paying for," sisters Sherry Parker and Sarah Turner said about their mother's care during a public comment period.
The sisters said they hired a personal aide at an extra $600 per month to provide basic care that they said the nursing home should be handling, such as bathing.
Another speaker, Leticia Edwards, said due to similar concerns, she also hires a personal aide when she's unable to regularly visit her mother's facility.
“There's one CNA (certified nursing assistant) to a whole ward. That don't even sound legal," Edwards said during public comment.
One CNA who attended the meeting, Tomeka Coley, said she used to work in nursing homes but became burnt out and quit.
She cited staff-to-patient ratios that she believed were unmanageable.
“It's nowhere near adequate. If you have 14 to 30 patients, how do you take care of them?” Coley said.
She added she was in disbelief that Virginia does not have a minimum staffing standard.
“In a nursing home, they can't do anything for themselves. So why would you have no ratio?" Coley said. "They need to get on board with that, like ten years ago.”
Spanberger administration 'exploring' staffing standard policy
A previous CBS 6 investigation found Virginia ranks only above four other states in the country when it comes to federal staffing ratings— scores that are based on nursing homes' rates of turnover and levels of staffing.
The Virginia Department of Health's own inspections have documented multiple instances of patient harms and reports of employees stretched beyond their limits due to inadequate staffing.
After Wednesday's meeting, CBS 6 asked Virginia's Health and Human Resources Secretary Marvin Figueroa where Governor Abigail Spanberger stands on the issue.
“Does the Spanberger administration support an enforceable, defined state staffing standard in Virginia?” reporter Tyler Layne asked.
“That's a conversation we're gonna have with the General Assembly. I also think you heard earlier today about how we're gonna use our payment and our tools that we have right now to be able to encourage improved staffing. I also just had a conversation with my agencies as well to see how we could do better partnerships to increase the workforce," Figueroa answered.
“To be clear, though, does the governor have a position on an enforceable staffing standard?” Layne asked.
“It is an important thing that we need to address. I can't give you a specific here 'yes' or 'no' because a lot goes into that policy, but definitely something we're exploring," Figueroa said.
When asked whether she supported a staffing standard, a spokesperson for Governor Spanberger's Office did not directly answer the question but said in an email that the governor "looks forward to taking additional steps together with the General Assembly to make sure every Virginian knows their loved one is being treated with dignity and respect.”
April Payne with the Virginia Health Care Association (VHCA), a trade group that represents nearly every nursing home in the state, said in a presentation to the panel Wednesday that the "staffing crisis" is the number one challenge facing providers.
However, she said low staffing does not always equate to poor quality.
“I’m not going to be able to draw that direct correlation because there are some facilities that, well, they make it happen, and there hasn't been an impact to quality of care," Payne said.
Payne added emerging concerns the VHCA has identified surround ensuring licensed staff are competently trained and addressing a rise in nursing home patients with mental health or substance abuse disorders.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Virginia ranks among nation's worst for nursing home staffing
Industry group was set to present to panel, but didn't
Secretary Figueroa said another industry group, Virginians Advocating for Seniors, was also invited to present to the panel.
But that presentation, which was featured on the meeting agenda, didn't happen.
“I think the conversation we wanted to have was about quality, and they're an important partner to make sure that we're increasing quality, and it's telling that they weren't here," Figueroa said.
A spokesperson for Virginians Advocating for Seniors said its presenter Chanta Combs was unable to make it to the meeting due to "travel complications."
The spokesperson shared with CBS 6 a slideshow that Combs would have presented to the panel. The presentation included federal data showing Virginia outperforms most other states on specific quality measures. Quality measures are scored based on data that nursing facilities report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The data includes resident outcomes such as rates of urinary tract infections, falls, and hospitalizations.
Quality measures are one of three components that make up a nursing home's overall quality rating, as scored by CMS. The other two components are health inspection outcomes and staffing measures. The slideshow did not mention that Virginia's average health inspection and staffing scores are below the national average.
Virginians Advocating for Seniors did not identify its members when asked by CBS 6.
Campaign finance reports published by the Department of Elections show the Virginians Advocating for Seniors political action committee (PAC) has received funding from the nursing home chains Marquis Health Consulting Services and Hill Valley Healthcare as well as entities that CMS data has linked to the chains Lifeworks Rehab and Eastern Healthcare Group.
Three of those four chains have an overall performance rating below the national average of 3.0 out of 5 stars, according to data published by CMS:
- Eastern: 1.5 stars
- Hill Valley: 1.8 stars
- Lifeworks Rehab: 2.1 stars
Marquis has an overall performance rating on par with the national average at 3.0 stars.
Department of Elections records show that the PAC has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians, including a $150,000 contribution to Governor Spanberger's PAC in July 2026.
CBS 6 asked Secretary Figueroa about the contribution following Wednesday's meeting.
“For residents and families, how can they be sure that the Spanberger administration is looking out for their interests when this PAC is taking that kind of money from this industry group?” Layne asked.
“We keep those two things separate. I don’t even know anything about that," Figueroa said.
When asked about the donation, a spokesperson for Governor Spanberger did not directly address it, and instead sent a statement that said, “Unlike the previous administration, Governor Spanberger and her administration are taking concrete steps to hold accountable those who are not delivering on their responsibility to provide safe, high-quality care to Virginians.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Virginia nurse aide pushes for nursing home staffing standards
A spokesperson for Virginians Advocating for Seniors said of its political giving, "We believe this Governor and her administration are working toward reasonable and responsible reforms for senior care, and we wanted to show our support."
The spokesperson said political giving is only one part of what the group does and that members spend most of their time trying to shape public policy.
"Until the state and nursing home operators find ways to increase the available workforce, shortages will remain a challenge. From our point of view, workforce development and quality incentives should be at the forefront of the nursing home agenda," the group said.
Consumer advocates frustrated with perceived inaction
Consumer advocates on the advisory panel ended their comments during Wednesday's discussion airing frustrations that, in their view, the body is failing to address corporate accountability and how for-profit nursing home owners are spending taxpayer dollars meant for care.
"Until we solve that problem, we're just kind of spinning here," Sam Kukich, of Dignity for the Aged, said.
"They're making a profit, and it's at the expense of nursing facility residents. So, I mean, I appreciate everything that's being said in terms of— we want to do this, we want to do that— but we've been airing that for years, so this is right now the breaking point," Joanna Heiskill, of the Advocate Voice Virginia, said.
"The money is not going back into the facility for the care of your loved one," Tracey Pompey, of Justice and Change for Victims of Nursing Facilities, said.
When asked about their concerns, Secretary Figueroa told CBS 6 the state would follow the data.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Virginia's top nursing home advocate sees troubling trend' in industry
"If they tell us that there's something to do with the governance structure that influences the quality of the care that people get, we will go after those individuals," he said.
The next panel meeting is scheduled for November. It'll be the last time the group meets before a final report on nursing home quality is due from State Health Commissioner Dr. Cameron Webb to Governor Spanberger and the General Assembly. The report is required to list recommendations for nursing home improvement.
Webb told the panel that state agencies are urgently working on nursing home oversight measures and that members' feedback will influence his report.
"We have so many different issues that are pressing and that are critical, but I want to be really clear that focusing on Virginia's nursing homes has been every single day work for our agencies for 256 days and will continue to be as long as we are at this breaking point," Webb said.
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