Pursuant to Chapter 284 of the 2024 General Assembly (House Bill 349), the Board of Nursing convened a workgroup on July 22, 2024, to develop recommendations to enable a subset of medication aides registered by the Board to administer drugs to residents in a certified nursing facility licensed by the Department of Health. These medication aides are a new type of practitioner under the Board of Nursing titled advanced registered medication aides (“advanced RMA").

The workgroup identified several impediments to implementation of HB349. Those impediments require legislative action and are detailed in this report.

Additionally, the workgroup considered training hours for registration and other potential requirements for registration of the new practitioner group. In this report, the Board provides considerations of the workgroup as well as recommendations based on the Board’s registration of RMAs and the differences between RMAs and advanced RMAs.

Workgroup Members

Carol Cartte, RN, BSN
Board of Nursing, Chair of the workgroup

Delia Acuna, FNP-C
Board of Nursing, Member

Andrew Lamar
Virginia Nurses Association

April Payne
Virginia Health Care Association/Virginia Center for Assisted Living

Scott Johnson
Virginia Health Care Association/Virginia Center for Assisted Living

Allyson Flinn
Virginia Department of Health

Melissa Green
Virginia Department of Health

Karen Riley
Leading Age Virginia