Prescribed pediatric extended care centers; licensure, regulation.
HB2198 creates a new licensing and regulatory framework for prescribed pediatric extended care centers in Virginia, effective July 1, 2026. These centers are defined as nonresidential health care facilities serving medically dependent or technologically dependent children and providing services such as skilled nursing, therapies, education, meals, transportation, and family education. The bill requires a state license to establish or operate a center, authorizes the Board of Health to adopt implementing regulations and fee schedules, and directs that licensing fees support the Department of Health’s inspection and licensure program.
The bill sets detailed operational standards for centers, including application requirements, inspections, background checks, staffing ratios, emergency preparedness, individualized care plans, facility standards, complaint confidentiality, anti-retaliation protections, and disciplinary procedures. It also establishes penalties for operating without a license, exceeding licensed capacity, making false statements, or interfering with regulators. The bill further provides summary suspension procedures for unsafe facilities and separate appeal processes for privately operated centers and centers operated by agencies of the Commonwealth.
HB2198 amends Virginia Code § 19.2-389 to add prescribed pediatric extended care centers to the list of entities authorized to receive criminal history record information for background checks and licensing-related investigations. It also adds a new Article 7.2 in Title 32.1, Chapter 5, creating a comprehensive licensure and oversight scheme for these centers, including mandatory background checks against criminal records and the child abuse and neglect central registry, staffing and care requirements, inspection authority, enforcement tools, and confidentiality rules governing background-check and complaint information. The bill therefore expands state regulation of pediatric extended care providers and gives the Department of Health and the Board of Health explicit authority over licensing, inspections, and enforcement.
The bill appears to have had broadly favorable support throughout the legislative process. Committee and floor votes were unanimous or near-unanimous at each stage, and the measure ultimately passed both chambers with no recorded opposition in the votes provided. The repeated reporting with substitutes and the final conference report suggest the bill was refined during the process, but the overall sentiment remained strongly supportive.
There is little evidence of substantive opposition in the available record, but the bill did require multiple substitutes and a conference report, indicating some negotiation over its final form. The main policy issues likely involved the scope of regulation, the background-check and disqualification standards for staff and volunteers, and the enforcement powers granted to the Commissioner, including summary suspension and civil penalties. The separate procedures for privately operated centers versus centers operated by agencies of the Commonwealth also suggest attention to how the new rules would apply across different types of providers.