Virginia officials outline closure plan for Hiram Davis Medical Center, cite infrastructure and patient moves

The Joint Commission on Health Care heard an update Thursday from Commissioner Nelson Smith on plans to close Hiram Davis Medical Center, a 94‑bed state facility the department says has failing infrastructure and cannot be renovated without displacing residents.

The briefing matters because Hiram Davis serves multiple high‑need populations — people with developmental disabilities, residents with dementia and complex medical needs, and people with serious mental illness — and the closure will require individualized placement planning, regulatory steps to certify alternative beds and legislative review before the General Assembly and governor decide whether the plan moves forward.

Commissioner Nelson Smith told commissioners the facility is more than 50 years old, has antiquated systems and “open for system failure.” He said the building’s layout makes comprehensive renovation impractical because upgrades to buried plumbing and life‑safety systems would require displacing all residents for an extended construction period. “You’d have to change everything else in accordance with the current codes,” Nelson Smith said, adding a serious renovation would take at least two years.

Smith said the facility currently has 33 residents and that occupancy is down to roughly 35 percent…