Regulation of the health professions began late in the nineteenth century. On January 31, 1884, the General Assembly passed an act creating the Board of Medical Examiners to certify physicians for practice in Virginia. Two years later, acts establishing the Board of Dental Examiners (now the Board of Dentistry) and the Board of Pharmacy were passed by the General Assembly on February 26 and March 3, 1886, respectively. The Board of Embalmers (now the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers) was created by an act passed on March 5, 1894, and the Board of Veterinary Examiners (now the Board of Veterinary Medicine) was established by an act passed on February 27, 1896. On May 1, 1903, the General Assembly created the Board of Graduate Nurses (now the State Board of Nursing), and on March 11, 1916, the Board of Optometry was established by legislative action.

The Dept. of Health Regulatory Boards was created by an act passed by the General Assembly on March 31, 1977, to provide administrative services to the health regulatory boards of the state. The boards continue to regulate their professions through the examination, licensing, and disciplining of the practitioners of health science. In 1986, the Dept. of Health Regulatory Boards became the Dept. of Health Professions. Its mission is to enhance the delivery of safe and competent health care by licensing qualified health care professionals, enforcing standards of practice, and providing information to both practitioners and consumers of health care services.