Virginia Law

A. Each nursing facility shall have a written agreement with one or more physicians licensed by the Virginia Board of Medicine to serve as medical director.

B. The duties of the medical director shall include, but are not limited to:

1. Advising the administrator and the director of nursing on medical issues, including the criteria for residents to be admitted, transferred or discharged from the nursing facility;

2. Advising on the development and execution of policies and procedures that have a direct effect upon the quality of medical and nursing care delivered to residents;

3. Acting as liaison and consulting with the administrator and the attending physician on matters regarding medical and nursing care policies and procedures of the nursing facility;

4. Advising and providing consultation to the nursing facility staff regarding communicable diseases, infection control and isolation procedures, and serving as liaison with local health officials;

5. Providing temporary physician services when the admitting physician is not the attending physician, in order to assure that the resident has temporary medical orders;

6. Providing physician services in case of emergency in the event that the resident's attending physician cannot be reached; and

7. Advising on the development and execution of an employee health program, which shall include provisions for determining that employees are free of communicable diseases according to current acceptable standards of practice.