Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. — Last year, for the first time in a decade, the federal government terminated a Virginia nursing home’s certification, essentially deeming it unsafe for patients insured through Medicare and Medicaid to keep receiving care there. The state, meanwhile, allowed it to continue operating, though under strict guidelines.

Internal communication records obtained by CBS 6 revealed state licensing officials expressed concern about repeated violations identified in the facility, and according to CBS 6’s sources, they recommended denying a license renewal. However, that recommendation did not materialize.

Princess Anne Health and Rehabilitation Center in Virginia Beach lost its Medicare and Medicaid funding in August 2025 for «failing to meet basic health and safety requirements.» It’s a rare and extreme regulatory action taken when issues persist at a facility without proper corrections, and it could force a facility to close.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal regulator of nursing homes, Princess Anne was part of the Lifeworks Rehab chain. The Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the state regulator of nursing homes, said Lifeworks Rehab is a vendor operating for Medical Facilities of America centers.

As CBS 6 has previously reported, the same chain is affiliated with multiple nursing homes in the Richmond metro that have been subject to serious quality of care concerns including Henrico Health and Rehab, Parham Health Care and Rehabilitation Center, and Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

Inspections show lack of supervision, resident injuries

Mary Mattice said her mother-in-law received inadequate care at Princess Anne and wanted VDH to shut it down.

«Please, please. I hope they show up right now and go do it,» Mattice said. «It was almost like we felt like we were doing more for her than what the people that are trained to do this were doing.»

But others like Kristi Benson worried that relocating their loved ones would be a major disruption.

«Our experience has been good. We’ve been overall happy. She’s thriving there. She’s gaining weight. She’s eating. She’s making friends. So it really came as a shock to our family,» Benson said.

According to VDH inspection reports, between February and August of 2025, inspectors cited dozens of violations including inadequate supervision that led to falls and injuries. In one instance, inspectors said a resident was discovered in «blood-soaked» clothes after eloping unbeknownst to staff. In another instance, they said a resident was discovered bruised and lying on hot asphalt.

The facility was also found to have failed to prevent pressure ulcers, with one resident developing a pressure ulcer just five days after admission. Some staff members reported to inspectors they were short-staffed and «did not feel good» about the care they provided.

Emails obtained by CBS 6 through a Freedom of Information Act request showed there were contentious interactions between VDH and Medical Facilities of America (MFA) amid the regulatory process.

In July 2025, when attempting to inspect the nursing home, a VDH supervisor wrote to CMS about «significant challenges» inspectors were experiencing while trying to do their jobs. VDH claimed facility administration and corporate management «threatened» staff and instructed them not to give information to inspectors. Further, the agency claimed some documentation «disappeared» from the clinical record.

When asked about the allegations in an interview with CBS 6, VDH’s Office of Licensure and Certification (OLC) Director April Dovel said, «We’re just trying to ensure that the provider is meeting the regulatory standard. And, unfortunately, sometimes providers can become defensive, right? We are in an authoritative role, and that can often spur tension.»

CBS 6 asked Princess Anne to respond to these allegations, but a spokesperson did not directly address them in a statement provided for this story.

Meanwhile, MFA has accused one inspector of being biased against the company, alleging that person called the Princess Anne administrator a «toddler.» The company alleged the state employee in question made inappropriate and unprofessional comments during inspections at other affiliated nursing homes and that these concerns had already been brought to VDH’s attention.

When asked about these allegations, VDH said it could not comment on personnel matters.

The CMS termination ultimately took effect after the facility failed to clear deficiencies within a 180-day deadline.

Records show Princess Anne is now appealing that, arguing in part that the decertification was «merely the result of lack of timely action and inaction by VDH.»

In an appeal dated October 2025 and submitted to CMS, the nursing home claimed VDH was significantly late to a follow-up inspection, also known as a survey, which limited the facility’s time to make required corrections.

«Would you say that it’s true that the termination was merely just a result of an untimely revisit inspection and nothing to do with the actual violations that were found in the nursing home?» reporter Tyler Layne asked Dovel.

«I would say that that’s not true,» Dovel said. «The onus is always on the provider agency to ensure that they’re doing the right thing by the individuals that they serve, and where we come in is really holding the line of, are you meeting regulatory standards, which is the minimum.»

That said, Dovel did acknowledge that the health department historically struggled with completing timely inspections due to staffing constraints.

Violations continue under increased scrutiny

Following the federal termination, VDH did not take steps to revoke Princess Anne’s license. Instead, it entered into a consent agreement with the facility in October 2025, the first time the agency has ever done so with a nursing home.

Per the terms, Princess Anne could not care for more than ten patients at one time and had to clear at least two consecutive inspections with no violations in order for restrictions to be lifted. The state health commissioner would ultimately decide whether to renew the facility’s license.

Dovel, who became OLC director in November 2025, inherited the agreement.

«Do you believe that VDH has handled it appropriately and wouldn’t change any way in which they have provided oversight of this facility?» Layne asked.

«There are probably things that I would have changed about the way that our terms were laid out for this agency. And I think that in future state, I would like to see the OLC move to a standpoint where we’re getting ahead of these types of concerns by addressing recertification surveys timely,» Dovel said.

While under the increased scrutiny, Princess Anne failed two more state inspections. Emails showed the nursing home received nine violations in October and three more in December, just weeks before the facility’s license was set to expire.

During the December inspection, VDH cited the facility for abuse after staff forced a vaccine into a resident who said they did not want it and had a documented fear of needles. According to the inspection report, the staff member was terminated after the incident.

On Dec. 30, 2025, OLC’s Long-Term Care Division Director Kenya Jeanlouis wrote an email to Dovel outlining all the health and safety violations at Princess Anne since February.

Jeanlouis expressed concern that the facility «failed to implement effective interventions resulting in measurable improvement in care or services,» despite submitting multiple corrective action plans to regulators.

«This community has demonstrated a sustained and systemic pattern of noncompliance over the past eleven months, with no evidence of sustained corrective action or regulatory compliance,» Jeanlouis wrote. «Based on the cumulative history of noncompliance and the severity of the cited deficiencies, residents remain at ongoing and unacceptable risk for harm.»

Licensing recommendation not acted upon

Princess Anne’s license was set to expire December 31, 2025. In late December, Dovel said OLC made a recommendation to former health commissioner Dr. Karen Shelton about what to do with the nursing home’s license.

«Information was presented to the health commissioner that she took under advisement, and we would need to seek additional counsel from our legal team as to what the next steps would be,» Dovel said.

At this point, Dovel said Princess Anne had not met all the terms of the consent agreement since it had not passed two consecutive inspections.

She told CBS 6 she could not disclose what the recommendation was, but she said it was not acted upon. According to CBS 6’s sources, the recommendation was to deny the renewal of Princess Anne’s license.

«According to these emails, over the course of 11 months, the facility was cited with 52 violations of care and safety standards. 23 of those were repeat violations, and seven of them indicated that residents suffered harm or their well being was placed in immediate jeopardy as a result. On the last inspection in December, before a decision was going to be made about the license, the nursing home was cited for abuse of a resident, even while caring for fewer than 10 patients at that time. At what point would VDH determine that it’s no longer safe for residents to be in this facility?» Layne asked Dovel.

«Part of the consent agreement really increases our oversight of the facility, so we’re in there more frequently than we would be under any other circumstances, right? And I will say that we just had the survey team in there [in February], and they didn’t have any deficiencies. I would say that the intent of the consent agreement is actually working. The intent is really to ensure that the individuals that are in their care are truly being provided with good, quality care,» Dovel answered.

Dovel said an inspection team visited Princess Anne again in February and found no problems. This would mark the first out of three state inspections that occurred since the implementation of the consent agreement in which the facility cleared an inspection.

She pointed out that VDH does not have summary sanction authority, which is the power to impose immediate enforcement actions without going through a potentially lengthy legal proceeding.

VDH also confirmed that when Princess Anne applied for licensure renewal, it did not include the required minimum insurance coverage. The penalty for not meeting this requirement is a license revocation.

An agency spokesperson said the facility has since updated its insurance policy to meet the minimum standard, and on March 20, 2026, VDH approved the renewal of Princess Anne’s license. The renewal did not impact the consent agreement, which VDH said remains in effect.

In a statement, facility spokesperson Mindie Barnett told CBS 6, «Princess Anne Health and Rehabilitation Center continues to operate with a reduced resident census while we diligently focus on quality of care. The facility had an inspection the second week of February and there were zero deficiencies. New leadership is in place, and we are working cooperatively with state and federal regulators to restore full operations as soon as practicable. We welcome the new Virginia Administration’s focus on a balanced, high-quality senior care system and look forward to collaborating with their team to ensure the highest standards of care for our residents.»

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