republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-471.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Health professionals; unprofessional conduct, reporting."
description: "Health professionals; unprofessional conduct; reporting. Requires the chief executive officer and the chief of staff of every hospital or other health care institution in the Commonwealth, the director of every licensed home health or hospice organization, the director of every accredited home health organization exempt from licensure, the administrator of every licensed assisted living facility, and the administrator of every provider licensed by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services in the Commonwealth to report to the Department of Health Professions any information of which he may become aware in his professional capacity that indicates a reasonable belief that a health care provider is in need of treatment or has been admitted as a patient for treatment of substance abuse or psychiatric illness that may render the health professional a danger to himself, the public, or his patients, or that he determines, following review and any necessary investigation or consultation with the appropriate internal boards or committees authorized to impose disciplinary action on a health professional, indicates that there is a reasonable probability that such health professional may have engaged in unethical, fraudulent, or unprofessional conduct. Current law requires information to be reported if the information indicates, after reasonable investigation and consultation with the appropriate internal boards or committees authorized to impose disciplinary action on a health professional, a reasonable probability that such health professional may have engaged in unethical, fraudulent, or unprofessional conduct. This bill is identical to SB 540."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 471"
citation: "Virginia HB 471 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chris Collins-Resigned 6/28/20"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2020-01-03"
last_action: "2020-03-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/018be4b4-0931-42f1-b921-faa666d45a94"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB471"
source_hash: "54e3dded37c2abc1c7856c0c74011d42d11e012e82c480402319f46db205fa24"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 471 (2020) — Health professionals; unprofessional conduct, reporting.

Health professionals; unprofessional conduct; reporting. Requires the chief executive officer and the chief of staff of every hospital or other health care institution in the Commonwealth, the director of every licensed home health or hospice organization, the director of every accredited home health organization exempt from licensure, the administrator of every licensed assisted living facility, and the administrator of every provider licensed by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services in the Commonwealth to report to the Department of Health Professions any information of which he may become aware in his professional capacity that indicates a reasonable belief that a health care provider is in need of treatment or has been admitted as a patient for treatment of substance abuse or psychiatric illness that may render the health professional a danger to himself, the public, or his patients, or that he determines, following review and any necessary investigation or consultation with the appropriate internal boards or committees authorized to impose disciplinary action on a health professional, indicates that there is a reasonable probability that such health professional may have engaged in unethical, fraudulent, or unprofessional conduct. Current law requires information to be reported if the information indicates, after reasonable investigation and consultation with the appropriate internal boards or committees authorized to impose disciplinary action on a health professional, a reasonable probability that such health professional may have engaged in unethical, fraudulent, or unprofessional conduct. This bill is identical to SB 540.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0045)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0045)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB471ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB471ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (HB471)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB471)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB471H1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB471H1)

## Votes

- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N) — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Education and Health (13-Y 0-N) — **13–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) — **19–0** (pass) · lower
- Referred from Health, Welfare and Institutions — **0–0** (fail) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chris Collins-Resigned 6/28/20 — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-03** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20102540D `introduction`
- **2020-01-03** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Assigned HWI sub: Health Professions `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-15** Impact statement from DPB (HB471)
- **2020-01-21** Referred from Health, Welfare and Institutions
- **2020-01-21** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-23** Assigned Courts sub: Civil `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-01-27** Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
- **2020-01-31** Committee substitute printed 20105917D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-31** Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB471H1)
- **2020-02-04** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-05** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-05** Committee substitute agreed to 20105917D-H1
- **2020-02-05** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB471H1
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-06** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-07** Referred to Committee on Education and Health `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-13** Reported from Education and Health (13-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-14** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-17** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-17** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-19** Enrolled
- **2020-02-19** Impact statement from DPB (HB471ER)
- **2020-02-19** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-20** Signed by President
- **2020-02-24** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on February 24, 2020
- **2020-02-24** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 2, 2020
- **2020-03-02** Approved by Governor-Chapter 45 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/018be4b4-0931-42f1-b921-faa666d45a94`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).