The health regulatory process exists to establish and maintain acceptable standards of professional practice and to take disciplinary action when licensed providers do not practice in accordance with those standards. There are 13 regulatory boards within the Department of Health Professions. These boards regulate more than 50 different types of professions and occupations and eight types of facilities. Members of regulatory boards are appointed by the Governor. Boards have members who are licensed providers and citizens with no connection to the regulated professions, except as patients or clients.
All members are equally responsible for protecting and serving all the people of Virginia.
The Department's staff is responsible for administering the laws and regulations pertaining to health care providers, including conducting investigations of alleged violations of those laws and regulations. The Department is experiencing substantial increases in the numbers of allegations that must be investigated. These increases have exceeded all predictions which were based on previous workload and this is resulting in a backlog of cases awaiting action. Recent increases in funding and the number of investigative positions have eased a crisis in this regard, but eliminating the backlog will still take awhile. It is not unusual for a matter to take approximately 20 months from the time information is first received at the Department until final action is taken by a regulatory board.