Highland Ridge Rehab: No Infection Preventionist - VA
That is what state surveyors found when they walked into the Dublin, Virginia facility on September 5.
The facility's infection preventionist, the staff member responsible for the program that tracks, prevents, and responds to infectious disease inside the building, had left the job on July 4. That was two months before inspectors arrived. In the time since, the interim administrator and the interim director of nursing had divided the role between themselves. When surveyors sat down with both of them that afternoon, along with a regional director of clinical services and a licensed practical nurse, the administrator and director of nursing acknowledged they had no infection prevention certification. Neither of them.
The LPN in that same meeting did have a certification, obtained in 2022. She agreed she was not performing the infection preventionist role at the facility.
So the person with the credential wasn't doing the job. The people doing the job didn't have the credential. And the facility's own job description for the infection preventionist position said only that the person should "be able to obtain certification in infection control," language that sets a floor so low it barely qualifies as a requirement.
What that gap looked like in practice, inspectors documented in real time. Throughout the day on September 5, surveyors made multiple observations of residents who required either enhanced barrier precautions or transmission-based precautions, two distinct levels of infection control protocol used when a resident carries or is at elevated risk of spreading a dangerous pathogen. In both cases, the inspection report found no proper notification, no required signage posted outside or near the room, and no personal protective equipment available for staff, residents, or visitors who might enter.
Enhanced barrier precautions exist for a reason. They are used for residents colonized with certain drug-resistant organisms, the kind that spread easily in congregate settings, that are difficult to treat, and that can be lethal for people already weakened by age or illness. Transmission-based precautions go further, applied when a resident has a confirmed or suspected infection that can move from person to person through contact, droplets, or the air. The signage and PPE requirements attached to both protocols are not bureaucratic formalities. They are the mechanism by which everyone entering a room knows what they are walking into and how to protect themselves and others.
None of that was in place for multiple residents on the day inspectors arrived.
When surveyors asked for documentation showing staff had been trained on these procedures, the facility produced it. Training records existed. The problem was not that nobody had ever heard of enhanced barrier precautions. The problem was that the person responsible for making sure those precautions were actually implemented, monitored, and enforced had been gone since Independence Day, and the facility had not replaced her with anyone who met the standard.
Inspectors classified the violation under F0882, the federal tag requiring nursing homes to employ a qualified infection preventionist before that person assumes the role. The level of harm was listed as minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting many residents. That language reflects the regulatory framework's assessment of risk, not a finding that no one was hurt. With residents actively requiring isolation precautions and those precautions visibly absent, the exposure was not theoretical.
The facility provided no additional information to the survey team before inspectors left that evening.
What remained when they walked out was a rehab center two months into running its infection control program on the authority of two administrators who, by their own admission, were not certified to run it, while a nurse who was certified sat in the same building doing something else, and residents who needed protection from or against infectious disease waited in rooms that gave no one any indication of that fact.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Highland Ridge Rehab Center from 2025-09-05 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: This article is based on inspection data downloaded directly from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) via Medicare.gov. CMS releases inspection reports in bulk; we publish the findings as documented by state surveyors in the official Form CMS-2567 Statement of Deficiencies.
Plan of correction: The CMS report we receive does not include the facility's plan of correction. Facilities submit plans of correction separately to state survey agencies and those responses may not be reflected in CMS data at the time of publication. The absence of a plan of correction in our data does not mean one was not filed. Readers who want information about corrective steps taken are encouraged to contact the facility directly or their state survey agency.
Corrections may have occurred: Inspection reports reflect conditions observed on the date of the survey. Facilities may have implemented corrections, staffing changes, additional training, or other remediation since the report was issued. We report what CMS provides and encourage readers to seek current information from the facility.
Editorial process: Inspection findings are extracted from CMS source documents and synthesized using AI, reviewed for factual accuracy against the original report by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: September 24, 2026 · Our methodology
HIGHLAND RIDGE REHAB CENTER in DUBLIN, VA was cited for violations during a health inspection on September 5, 2025.
That is what state surveyors found when they walked into the Dublin, Virginia facility on September 5.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.