Director of Nursing, Registered nurse, Former state surveyor

Melissa Gilligan

RN | SMQT-Qualified

Melissa is a Registered Nurse with over 30 years of nursing experience, having built her career from the ground up as a Nursing Assistant, Licensed Practical Nurse, and Registered Nurse before moving into regulatory and leadership roles. She spent ten years as a State Surveyor with the Ohio Department of Health, SMQT-qualified by CMS, conducting onsite surveys of long-term care facilities, reviewing medical records, interviewing staff and residents, and evaluating plans of correction. From 2012 to 2017 she also served as Field Manager, supervising a team of surveyors and reviewing their findings for accuracy and documentation.

Since leaving the Department of Health, Melissa has seen the survey process from the facility side as a Director of Nursing and as a Regional Quality Assurance Nurse. In that role she oversaw regulatory compliance for seven long-term care facilities across Northeast Ohio. As a DON she managed secure dementia, ventilator, skilled rehabilitation, and general long-term care units. She continues to practice at the bedside as a staff float nurse with Bon Secours Mercy Health, following travel assignments in ICU, med-surg, and telemetry. Her experience as both a surveyor and a DON gives her direct insight into how facilities are evaluated and how they are expected to respond.

Areas of focus

• Survey & Regulatory ComplianceState and federal survey process, deficiency analysis, plans of correction, and Life Safety Code and ICF/DD survey training.
• Nursing LeadershipDON-level oversight of staffing, policy development, staff training and competency, and medical record compliance.
• Quality AssuranceDocumentation audits, adverse event investigation, root cause analysis, and corrective action planning.

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