BILL NUMBER: SB 1248 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 530
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2006
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 17, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 14, 2006
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 20, 2006
INTRODUCED BY Senator Alquist
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Lieber)
(Coauthors: Senators Chesbro, Figueroa, and Kuehl)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Berg, Cohn, Jones, Koretz, and Laird)
FEBRUARY 8, 2006
An act to amend Section 1599.1 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to long-term health care facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1248, Alquist Long-term health care facilities: resident
rights.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation by the
State Department of Health Services of skilled nursing and
intermediate care facilities. Existing law requires that written
policies regarding the rights of patients be established and made
available by such a facility to the patient, to any guardian, next of
kin, sponsoring agency, or representative payee, and to the public.
Existing law requires those policies and procedures to ensure that
each patient admitted to the facility has certain rights and is
notified of certain facility obligations, in addition to those
specified by regulation.
This bill would require, as of July 1, 2007, that those written
policies and procedures ensure, in addition, that specified federal
regulations regarding the rights of residents in long-term care
facilities and the duties of those facilities toward their residents
are applied to the skilled nursing facility or intermediate care
facility, regardless of a resident's payment source or the Medi-Cal
or Medicare certification status of the facility in which the
resident resides, except as specified.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1599.1 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
1599.1. Written policies regarding the rights of patients shall
be established and shall be made available to the patient, to any
guardian, next of kin, sponsoring agency or representative payee, and
to the public. Those policies and procedures shall ensure that each
patient admitted to the facility has the following rights and is
notified of the following facility obligations, in addition to those
specified by regulation:
(a) The facility shall employ an adequate number of qualified
personnel to carry out all of the functions of the facility.
(b) Each patient shall show evidence of good personal hygiene and
be given care to prevent bedsores, and measures shall be used to
prevent and reduce incontinence for each patient.
(c) The facility shall provide food of the quality and quantity to
meet the patients' needs in accordance with physicians' orders.
(d) The facility shall provide an activity program staffed and
equipped to meet the needs and interests of each patient and to
encourage self-care and resumption of normal activities. Patients
shall be encouraged to participate in activities suited to their
individual needs.
(e) The facility shall be clean, sanitary, and in good repair at
all times.
(f) A nurses' call system shall be maintained in operating order
in all nursing units and provide visible and audible signal
communication between nursing personnel and patients. Extension cords
to each patient's bed shall be readily accessible to patients at all
times.
(g) (1) If a facility has a significant beneficial interest in an
ancillary health service provider or if a facility knows that an
ancillary health service provider has a significant beneficial
interest in the facility, as provided by subdivision (a) of Section
1323, or if the facility has a significant beneficial interest in
another facility, as provided by subdivision (c) of Section 1323, the
facility shall disclose that interest in writing to the patient, or
his or her representative, and advise the patient, or his or her
representative, that the patient may choose to have another ancillary
health service provider, or facility, as the case may be, provide
any supplies or services ordered by a member of the medical staff of
the facility.
(2) A facility is not required to make any disclosures required by
this subdivision to any patient, or his or her representative, if
the patient is enrolled in an organization or entity that provides or
arranges for the provision of health care services in exchange for a
prepaid capitation payment or premium.
(h) (1) If a resident of a long-term health care facility has been
hospitalized in an acute care hospital and asserts his or her rights
to readmission pursuant to bed hold provisions, or readmission
rights of either state or federal law, and the facility refuses to
readmit him or her, the resident may appeal the facility's refusal.
(2) The refusal of the facility as described in this subdivision
shall be treated as if it were an involuntary transfer under federal
law, and the rights and procedures that apply to appeals of transfers
and discharges of nursing facility residents shall apply to the
resident's appeal under this subdivision.
(3) If the resident appeals pursuant to this subdivision, and the
resident is eligible under the Medi-Cal program, the resident shall
remain in the hospital and the hospital may be reimbursed at the
administrative day rate, pending the final determination of the
hearing officer, unless the resident agrees to placement in another
facility.
(4) If the resident appeals pursuant to this subdivision, and the
resident is not eligible under the Medi-Cal program, the resident
shall remain in the hospital if other payment is available, pending
the final determination of the hearing officer, unless the resident
agrees to placement in another facility.
(5) If the resident is not eligible for participation in the
Medi-Cal program and has no other source of payment, the hearing and
final determination shall be made within 48 hours.
(i) Effective July 1, 2007, Sections 483.10, 483.12, 483.13, and
483.15 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations in effect on
July 1, 2006, shall apply to each skilled nursing facility and
intermediate care facility, regardless of a resident's payment source
or the Medi-Cal or Medicare certification status of the skilled
nursing facility or intermediate care facility in which the resident
resides, except that a noncertified facility is not obligated to
provide notice of Medicaid or Medicare benefits, covered services, or
eligibility procedures.