                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

POWERS AND DUTIES OF DIRECTOR OF DEPARTMENT (§ 54.1-2505)

The Director of the Department shall have the following powers and duties:

1. To supervise and manage the Department;

2. To perform or consolidate such administrative services or functions as may
assist the operation of the boards;

3. To prepare, approve, and submit to the Governor, after consultation with the
boards, all requests for appropriations and be responsible for all expenditures
pursuant to appropriations;

4. To provide such office facilities as will allow the boards to carry out their
duties;

5. To employ personnel as required for the proper performance of the
responsibilities of the Department subject to the Virginia Personnel Act (&#xA7;
2.2-2900 et seq.) within the limits of appropriations made by law;

6. To receive all complaints made against regulated health care professionals;

7. To develop administrative policies and procedures governing the receipt and
recording of complaints;

8. To monitor the status of actions taken under the auspices of the boards
regarding complaints until the closure of each case;

9. To provide investigative and such other services as needed by the boards to
enforce their respective statutes and regulations;

10. To collect and account for all fees to be paid into each board and account
for and deposit the moneys so collected into a special fund from which the
expenses of the health regulatory boards, the Health Practitioners&#8217;
Monitoring Program, and the Department shall be paid. Such fees shall be held
exclusively to cover the expenses of the health regulatory boards, the Health
Practitioners&#8217; Monitoring Program, and the Department and shall not be
transferred to any agency other than the Department, except as provided in
&#xA7;&#xA7; 54.1-3011.1 and 54.1-3011.2;

11. To make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or incidental
to the performance of his duties and the execution of his powers, including, but
not limited to, contracts with the United States, other states, and agencies and
governmental subdivisions of the Commonwealth;

12. To accept grants from the United States government, its agencies and
instrumentalities, and any other source. The Director shall have the power to
comply with conditions and execute agreements as may be necessary, convenient,
or desirable;

13. To promulgate and revise regulations necessary for the administration of the
Department and such regulations as are necessary for the implementation of the
Health Practitioners&#8217; Monitoring Program pursuant to Chapter 25.1 (&#xA7;
54.1-2515 et seq.) and subdivision 18;

14. To report promptly, after consultation with the presiding officer of the
appropriate health regulatory board or his designee, to the Attorney General or
the appropriate attorney for the Commonwealth any information the Department
obtains which, upon appropriate investigation, indicates, in the judgment of the
Director, that a person licensed by any of the health regulatory boards has
violated any provision of criminal law, including the laws relating to
manufacturing, distributing, dispensing, prescribing, or administering drugs
other than drugs classified as Schedule VI drugs. When necessary, the Attorney
General or the attorney for the Commonwealth shall request that the Department
of Health Professions or the Department of State Police conduct any subsequent
investigation of such report. Upon request and affidavit from an attorney for
the Commonwealth, the Director shall provide documents material to a criminal
investigation of a person licensed by a health regulatory board; however, peer
review documents shall not be released and shall remain privileged pursuant to
&#xA7; 8.01-581.17. For the purpose of this section, the terms manufacturing,
distributing, dispensing, prescribing, or administering drugs shall not include
minor administrative or clerical errors that do not affect the inventory of
drugs required by the Drug Control Act (&#xA7; 54.1-3400 et seq.) and do not
indicate a pattern of criminal behavior;

15. To keep records of the names and qualifications of registered, certified, or
licensed persons;

16. To exercise other powers and perform other duties required of the Director
by the Governor;

17. To issue subpoenas in accordance with the Administrative Process Act (&#xA7;
2.2-4000 et seq.) for any informal fact finding or formal proceeding within the
jurisdiction of the Department or any regulatory board;

18. To establish, and revise as necessary, a health practitioners&#8217;
monitoring program pursuant to Chapter 25.1 (&#xA7; 54.1-2515 et seq.);

19. To establish, and revise as necessary, with such federal funds, grants, or
general funds as may be appropriated or made available for this program, the
Prescription Monitoring Program pursuant to Chapter 25.2 (&#xA7; 54.1-2519 et
seq.);

20. To assess a civil penalty against any person who is not licensed by a health
regulatory board for failing to report a violation pursuant to &#xA7;
54.1-2400.6 or 54.1-2909;

21. To evaluate, at the request of the General Assembly, health care professions
and occupations in the Commonwealth and to consider whether each such profession
or occupation should be regulated and the degree of regulation to be imposed;

22. To receive, review, and forward to the appropriate health regulatory board
any departmental investigative reports relating to complaints of violations by
practitioners of the Practitioner Self-Referral Act (&#xA7; 54.1-2410 et seq.);

23. To determine compliance with, violations of, and grant exceptions to the
prohibitions set forth in the Practitioner Self-Referral Act (&#xA7; 54.1-2410
et seq.); and

24. To take appropriate actions against entities, other than practitioners, for
violations of the Practitioner Self-Referral Act (&#xA7; 54.1-2410 et seq.).

HISTORY: 1977, c. 579, § 54-955; 1980, c. 678; 1983, c. 528; 1986, c. 564;
1988, cc. 266, 765; 1997, c. 439; 2002, c. 481; 2003, cc. 753, 762; 2004, c. 64;
2006, c. 631; 2009, c. 472; 2025, c. 341.