BILL NUMBER: SB 1228 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 671
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2012
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 27, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 29, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 1, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Senator Alquist
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Hill and V. Manuel Pérez)
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to amend Section 1250 of, and to add and repeal Article 7.2
(commencing with Section 1323.5) of Chapter 2 of Division 2 of, the
Health and Safety Code, relating to small house skilled nursing
facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1228, Alquist. Small house skilled nursing facilities.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health
facilities, including skilled nursing facilities, as defined, by the
State Department of Public Health. Violation of these provisions is a
crime.
This bill, until January 1, 2020, would establish the Small House
Skilled Nursing Facilities Pilot Program within the department for
the purposes of providing skilled nursing care in a homelike,
noninstitutional setting. The bill would require that pilot
facilities, as defined, meet specified requirements and pay specified
fees. The bill would require the department to submit a report to
the Legislature on the results of the pilot program at least 24
months prior to the termination of the pilot program.
By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1250 of
the Health and Safety Code, proposed by SB 135 to be operative only
if SB 135, and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on
or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
1250. As used in this chapter, "health facility" means any
facility, place, or building that is organized, maintained, and
operated for the diagnosis, care, prevention, and treatment of human
illness, physical or mental, including convalescence and
rehabilitation and including care during and after pregnancy, or for
any one or more of these purposes, for one or more persons, to which
the persons are admitted for a 24-hour stay or longer, and includes
the following types:
(a) "General acute care hospital" means a health facility having a
duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and
professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that
provides 24-hour inpatient care, including the following basic
services: medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory,
radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. A general acute care
hospital may include more than one physical plant maintained and
operated on separate premises as provided in Section 1250.8. A
general acute care hospital that exclusively provides acute medical
rehabilitation center services, including at least physical therapy,
occupational therapy, and speech therapy, may provide for the
required surgical and anesthesia services through a contract with
another acute care hospital. In addition, a general acute care
hospital that, on July 1, 1983, provided required surgical and
anesthesia services through a contract or agreement with another
acute care hospital may continue to provide these surgical and
anesthesia services through a contract or agreement with an acute
care hospital. The general acute care hospital operated by the State
Department of Developmental Services at Agnews Developmental Center
may, until June 30, 2007, provide surgery and anesthesia services
through a contract or agreement with another acute care hospital.
Notwithstanding the requirements of this subdivision, a general acute
care hospital operated by the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation or the Department of Veterans Affairs may provide
surgery and anesthesia services during normal weekday working hours,
and not provide these services during other hours of the weekday or
on weekends or holidays, if the general acute care hospital otherwise
meets the requirements of this section.
A "general acute care hospital" includes a "rural general acute
care hospital." However, a "rural general acute care hospital" shall
not be required by the department to provide surgery and anesthesia
services. A "rural general acute care hospital" shall meet either of
the following conditions:
(1) The hospital meets criteria for designation within peer group
six or eight, as defined in the report entitled Hospital Peer
Grouping for Efficiency Comparison, dated December 20, 1982.
(2) The hospital meets the criteria for designation within peer
group five or seven, as defined in the report entitled Hospital Peer
Grouping for Efficiency Comparison, dated December 20, 1982, and has
no more than 76 acute care beds and is located in a census dwelling
place of 15,000 or less population according to the 1980 federal
census.
(b) "Acute psychiatric hospital" means a health facility having a
duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and
professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that
provides 24-hour inpatient care for mentally disordered, incompetent,
or other patients referred to in Division 5 (commencing with Section
5000) or Division 6 (commencing with Section 6000) of the Welfare
and Institutions Code, including the following basic services:
medical, nursing, rehabilitative, pharmacy, and dietary services.
(c) (1) "Skilled nursing facility" means a health facility that
provides skilled nursing care and supportive care to patients whose
primary need is for availability of skilled nursing care on an
extended basis.
(2) "Skilled nursing facility" includes a "small house skilled
nursing facility (SHSNF)," as defined in Section 1323.5.
(d) "Intermediate care facility" means a health facility that
provides inpatient care to ambulatory or nonambulatory patients who
have recurring need for skilled nursing supervision and need
supportive care, but who do not require availability of continuous
skilled nursing care.
(e) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled
habilitative" means a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that
provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation, developmental, and
supportive health services to 15 or fewer persons with developmental
disabilities who have intermittent recurring needs for nursing
services, but have been certified by a physician and surgeon as not
requiring availability of continuous skilled nursing care.
(f) "Special hospital" means a health facility having a duly
constituted governing body with overall administrative and
professional responsibility and an organized medical or dental staff
that provides inpatient or outpatient care in dentistry or maternity.
(g) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled" means a
facility that provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation,
developmental, and supportive health services to persons with
developmental disabilities whose primary need is for developmental
services and who have a recurring but intermittent need for skilled
nursing services.
(h) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing"
means a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that provides
24-hour personal care, developmental services, and nursing
supervision for persons with developmental disabilities who have
intermittent recurring needs for skilled nursing care but have been
certified by a physician and surgeon as not requiring continuous
skilled nursing care. The facility shall serve medically fragile
persons with developmental disabilities or who demonstrate
significant developmental delay that may lead to a developmental
disability if not treated.
(i) (1) "Congregate living health facility" means a residential
home with a capacity, except as provided in paragraph (4), of no more
than 12 beds, that provides inpatient care, including the following
basic services: medical supervision, 24-hour skilled nursing and
supportive care, pharmacy, dietary, social, recreational, and at
least one type of service specified in paragraph (2). The primary
need of congregate living health facility residents shall be for
availability of skilled nursing care on a recurring, intermittent,
extended, or continuous basis. This care is generally less intense
than that provided in general acute care hospitals but more intense
than that provided in skilled nursing facilities.
(2) Congregate living health facilities shall provide one of the
following services:
(A) Services for persons who are mentally alert, persons with
physical disabilities, who may be ventilator dependent.
(B) Services for persons who have a diagnosis of terminal illness,
a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, or both. Terminal illness
means the individual has a life expectancy of six months or less as
stated in writing by his or her attending physician and surgeon. A
"life-threatening illness" means the individual has an illness that
can lead to a possibility of a termination of life within five years
or less as stated in writing by his or her attending physician and
surgeon.
(C) Services for persons who are catastrophically and severely
disabled. A person who is catastrophically and severely disabled
means a person whose origin of disability was acquired through trauma
or nondegenerative neurologic illness, for whom it has been
determined that active rehabilitation would be beneficial and to whom
these services are being provided. Services offered by a congregate
living health facility to a person who is catastrophically disabled
shall include, but not be limited to, speech, physical, and
occupational therapy.
(3) A congregate living health facility license shall specify
which of the types of persons described in paragraph (2) to whom a
facility is licensed to provide services.
(4) (A) A facility operated by a city and county for the purposes
of delivering services under this section may have a capacity of 59
beds.
(B) A congregate living health facility not operated by a city and
county servicing persons who are terminally ill, persons who have
been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, or both, that is
located in a county with a population of 500,000 or more persons, or
located in a county of the 16th class pursuant to Section 28020 of
the Government Code, may have not more than 25 beds for the purpose
of serving persons who are terminally ill.
(C) A congregate living health facility not operated by a city and
county serving persons who are catastrophically and severely
disabled, as defined in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) that is
located in a county of 500,000 or more persons may have not more than
12 beds for the purpose of serving persons who are catastrophically
and severely disabled.
(5) A congregate living health facility shall have a
noninstitutional, homelike environment.
(j) (1) "Correctional treatment center" means a health facility
operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile
Facilities, or a county, city, or city and county law enforcement
agency that, as determined by the state department, provides
inpatient health services to that portion of the inmate population
who do not require a general acute care level of basic services. This
definition shall not apply to those areas of a law enforcement
facility that houses inmates or wards that may be receiving
outpatient services and are housed separately for reasons of improved
access to health care, security, and protection. The health services
provided by a correctional treatment center shall include, but are
not limited to, all of the following basic services: physician and
surgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, nursing, pharmacy, and dietary.
A correctional treatment center may provide the following services:
laboratory, radiology, perinatal, and any other services approved by
the state department.
(2) Outpatient surgical care with anesthesia may be provided, if
the correctional treatment center meets the same requirements as a
surgical clinic licensed pursuant to Section 1204, with the exception
of the requirement that patients remain less than 24 hours.
(3) Correctional treatment centers shall maintain written service
agreements with general acute care hospitals to provide for those
inmate physical health needs that cannot be met by the correctional
treatment center.
(4) Physician and surgeon services shall be readily available in a
correctional treatment center on a 24-hour basis.
(5) It is not the intent of the Legislature to have a correctional
treatment center supplant the general acute care hospitals at the
California Medical Facility, the California Men's Colony, and the
California Institution for Men. This subdivision shall not be
construed to prohibit the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation from obtaining a correctional treatment center license
at these sites.
(k) "Nursing facility" means a health facility licensed pursuant
to this chapter that is certified to participate as a provider of
care either as a skilled nursing facility in the federal Medicare
Program under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. Sec. 1395 et seq.) or as a nursing facility in the federal
Medicaid Program under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.), or as both.
(l) Regulations defining a correctional treatment center described
in subdivision (j) that is operated by a county, city, or city and
county, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile
Facilities, shall not become effective prior to, or if effective,
shall be inoperative until January 1, 1996, and until that time these
correctional facilities are exempt from any licensing requirements.
(m) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally
disabled-continuous nursing (ICF/DD-CN)" means a homelike facility
with a capacity of four to eight, inclusive, beds that provides
24-hour personal care, developmental services, and nursing
supervision for persons with developmental disabilities who have
continuous needs for skilled nursing care and have been certified by
a physician and surgeon as warranting continuous skilled nursing
care. The facility shall serve medically fragile persons who have
developmental disabilities or demonstrate significant developmental
delay that may lead to a developmental disability if not treated.
ICF/DD-CN facilities shall be subject to licensure under this chapter
upon adoption of licensing regulations in accordance with Section
1275.3. A facility providing continuous skilled nursing services to
persons with developmental disabilities pursuant to Section 14132.20
or 14495.10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall apply for
licensure under this subdivision within 90 days after the regulations
become effective, and may continue to operate pursuant to those
sections until its licensure application is either approved or
denied.
SEC. 1.5. Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
1250. As used in this chapter, "health facility" means any
facility, place, or building that is organized, maintained, and
operated for the diagnosis, care, prevention, and treatment of human
illness, physical or mental, including convalescence and
rehabilitation and including care during and after pregnancy, or for
any one or more of these purposes, for one or more persons, to which
the persons are admitted for a 24-hour stay or longer, and includes
the following types:
(a) "General acute care hospital" means a health facility having a
duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and
professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that
provides 24-hour inpatient care, including the following basic
services: medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory,
radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. A general acute care
hospital may include more than one physical plant maintained and
operated on separate premises as provided in Section 1250.8. A
general acute care hospital that exclusively provides acute medical
rehabilitation center services, including at least physical therapy,
occupational therapy, and speech therapy, may provide for the
required surgical and anesthesia services through a contract with
another acute care hospital. In addition, a general acute care
hospital that, on July 1, 1983, provided required surgical and
anesthesia services through a contract or agreement with another
acute care hospital may continue to provide these surgical and
anesthesia services through a contract or agreement with an acute
care hospital. The general acute care hospital operated by the State
Department of Developmental Services at Agnews Developmental Center
may, until June 30, 2007, provide surgery and anesthesia services
through a contract or agreement with another acute care hospital.
Notwithstanding the requirements of this subdivision, a general acute
care hospital operated by the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation or the Department of Veterans Affairs may provide
surgery and anesthesia services during normal weekday working hours,
and not provide these services during other hours of the weekday or
on weekends or holidays, if the general acute care hospital otherwise
meets the requirements of this section.
A "general acute care hospital" includes a "rural general acute
care hospital." However, a "rural general acute care hospital" shall
not be required by the department to provide surgery and anesthesia
services. A "rural general acute care hospital" shall meet either of
the following conditions:
(1) The hospital meets criteria for designation within peer group
six or eight, as defined in the report entitled Hospital Peer
Grouping for Efficiency Comparison, dated December 20, 1982.
(2) The hospital meets the criteria for designation within peer
group five or seven, as defined in the report entitled Hospital Peer
Grouping for Efficiency Comparison, dated December 20, 1982, and has
no more than 76 acute care beds and is located in a census dwelling
place of 15,000 or less population according to the 1980 federal
census.
(b) "Acute psychiatric hospital" means a health facility having a
duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and
professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that
provides 24-hour inpatient care for mentally disordered, incompetent,
or other patients referred to in Division 5 (commencing with Section
5000) or Division 6 (commencing with Section 6000) of the Welfare
and Institutions Code, including the following basic services:
medical, nursing, rehabilitative, pharmacy, and dietary services.
(c) (1) "Skilled nursing facility" means a health facility that
provides skilled nursing care and supportive care to patients whose
primary need is for availability of skilled nursing care on an
extended basis.
(2) "Skilled nursing facility" includes a "small house skilled
nursing facility (SHSNF)," as defined in Section 1323.5.
(d) "Intermediate care facility" means a health facility that
provides inpatient care to ambulatory or nonambulatory patients who
have recurring need for skilled nursing supervision and need
supportive care, but who do not require availability of continuous
skilled nursing care.
(e) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled
habilitative" means a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that
provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation, developmental, and
supportive health services to 15 or fewer persons with developmental
disabilities who have intermittent recurring needs for nursing
services, but have been certified by a physician and surgeon as not
requiring availability of continuous skilled nursing care.
(f) "Special hospital" means a health facility having a duly
constituted governing body with overall administrative and
professional responsibility and an organized medical or dental staff
that provides inpatient or outpatient care in dentistry or maternity.
(g) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled" means a
facility that provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation,
developmental, and supportive health services to persons with
developmental disabilities whose primary need is for developmental
services and who have a recurring but intermittent need for skilled
nursing services.
(h) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing"
means a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that provides
24-hour personal care, developmental services, and nursing
supervision for persons with developmental disabilities who have
intermittent recurring needs for skilled nursing care but have been
certified by a physician and surgeon as not requiring continuous
skilled nursing care. The facility shall serve medically fragile
persons with developmental disabilities or who demonstrate
significant developmental delay that may lead to a developmental
disability if not treated.
(i) (1) "Congregate living health facility" means a residential
home with a capacity, except as provided in paragraph (4), of no more
than 12 beds, that provides inpatient care, including the following
basic services: medical supervision, 24-hour skilled nursing and
supportive care, pharmacy, dietary, social, recreational, and at
least one type of service specified in paragraph (2). The primary
need of congregate living health facility residents shall be for
availability of skilled nursing care on a recurring, intermittent,
extended, or continuous basis. This care is generally less intense
than that provided in general acute care hospitals but more intense
than that provided in skilled nursing facilities.
(2) Congregate living health facilities shall provide one of the
following services:
(A) Services for persons who are mentally alert, persons with
physical disabilities, who may be ventilator dependent.
(B) Services for persons who have a diagnosis of terminal illness,
a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, or both. Terminal illness
means the individual has a life expectancy of six months or less as
stated in writing by his or her attending physician and surgeon. A
"life-threatening illness" means the individual has an illness that
can lead to a possibility of a termination of life within five years
or less as stated in writing by his or her attending physician and
surgeon.
(C) Services for persons who are catastrophically and severely
disabled. A person who is catastrophically and severely disabled
means a person whose origin of disability was acquired through trauma
or nondegenerative neurologic illness, for whom it has been
determined that active rehabilitation would be beneficial and to whom
these services are being provided. Services offered by a congregate
living health facility to a person who is catastrophically disabled
shall include, but not be limited to, speech, physical, and
occupational therapy.
(3) A congregate living health facility license shall specify
which of the types of persons described in paragraph (2) to whom a
facility is licensed to provide services.
(4) (A) A facility operated by a city and county for the purposes
of delivering services under this section may have a capacity of 59
beds.
(B) A congregate living health facility not operated by a city and
county servicing persons who are terminally ill, persons who have
been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, or both, that is
located in a county with a population of 500,000 or more persons, or
located in a county of the 16th class pursuant to Section 28020 of
the Government Code, may have not more than 25 beds for the purpose
of serving persons who are terminally ill.
(C) A congregate living health facility not operated by a city and
county serving persons who are catastrophically and severely
disabled, as defined in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) that is
located in a county of 500,000 or more persons may have not more than
12 beds for the purpose of serving persons who are catastrophically
and severely disabled.
(5) A congregate living health facility shall have a
noninstitutional, homelike environment.
(j) (1) "Correctional treatment center" means a health facility
operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile
Facilities, or a county, city, or city and county law enforcement
agency that, as determined by the department, provides inpatient
health services to that portion of the inmate population who do not
require a general acute care level of basic services. This definition
shall not apply to those areas of a law enforcement facility that
houses inmates or wards who may be receiving outpatient services and
are housed separately for reasons of improved access to health care,
security, and protection. The health services provided by a
correctional treatment center shall include, but are not limited to,
all of the following basic services: physician and surgeon,
psychiatrist, psychologist, nursing, pharmacy, and dietary. A
correctional treatment center may provide the following services:
laboratory, radiology, perinatal, and any other services approved by
the department.
(2) Outpatient surgical care with anesthesia may be provided, if
the correctional treatment center meets the same requirements as a
surgical clinic licensed pursuant to Section 1204, with the exception
of the requirement that patients remain less than 24 hours.
(3) Correctional treatment centers shall maintain written service
agreements with general acute care hospitals to provide for those
inmate physical health needs that cannot be met by the correctional
treatment center.
(4) Physician and surgeon services shall be readily available in a
correctional treatment center on a 24-hour basis.
(5) It is not the intent of the Legislature to have a correctional
treatment center supplant the general acute care hospitals at the
California Medical Facility, the California Men's Colony, and the
California Institution for Men. This subdivision shall not be
construed to prohibit the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation from obtaining a correctional treatment center license
at these sites.
(k) "Nursing facility" means a health facility licensed pursuant
to this chapter that is certified to participate as a provider of
care either as a skilled nursing facility in the federal Medicare
Program under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. Sec. 1395 et seq.) or as a nursing facility in the federal
Medicaid Program under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.), or as both.
(l) Regulations defining a correctional treatment center described
in subdivision (j) that is operated by a county, city, or city and
county, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile
Facilities, shall not become effective prior to, or if effective,
shall be inoperative until January 1, 1996, and until that time these
correctional facilities are exempt from any licensing requirements.
(m) "Intermediate care facility/developmentally
disabled-continuous nursing (ICF/DD-CN)" means a homelike facility
with a capacity of four to eight, inclusive, beds that provides
24-hour personal care, developmental services, and nursing
supervision for persons with developmental disabilities who have
continuous needs for skilled nursing care and have been certified by
a physician and surgeon as warranting continuous skilled nursing
care. The facility shall serve medically fragile persons who have
developmental disabilities or demonstrate significant developmental
delay that may lead to a developmental disability if not treated.
ICF/DD-CN facilities shall be subject to licensure under this chapter
upon adoption of licensing regulations in accordance with Section
1275.3. A facility providing continuous skilled nursing services to
persons with developmental disabilities pursuant to Section 14132.20
or 14495.10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall apply for
licensure under this subdivision within 90 days after the regulations
become effective, and may continue to operate pursuant to those
sections until its licensure application is either approved or
denied.
(n) "Hospice facility" means a facility with a capacity of no more
than 24 beds that is licensed by the department and operated by a
licensed and certified
provider of hospice services. Hospice services include, but are not
limited to, routine care, continuous care, inpatient respite care,
general patient care, and the hospice facility services described in
Section 1749.3.
SEC. 2. Article 7.2 (commencing with Section 1323.5) is added to
Chapter 2 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
Article 7.2. Small House Skilled Nursing Facilities
1323.5. (a) (1) The Small House Skilled Nursing Facilities Pilot
Program (SHSNF PP) is hereby established within the department. The
purpose of the pilot program is to allow the department to authorize
the development and operation of up to 10 small house skilled nursing
facilities that are licensed to provide skilled nursing care and
supportive care to patients in small, homelike, residential settings
that incorporate emerging patient-centered health care concepts. The
long-range goal of the pilot program is to evaluate the models
developed under the pilot program to determine if each model improves
patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes in a cost-effective
manner. The models developed shall also be eligible for certification
for participation in the federal Medicare Program under Title XVIII
of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395 et seq.) as
skilled nursing facilities or in the federal Medicaid Program under
Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et
seq.), as nursing facilities, or as both.
(2) For purposes of the pilot program, the department shall permit
the formulation of standards for long-term care that may extend
beyond, or vary from, traditional long-term health care facility
models, including, but not limited to, facility layout and design
consistent with newly adopted revisions to the California Building
Standards Code, nursing care levels, staffing levels, infection
control, sanitation, dietary services, and other personal care and
habilitation provisions that may be more flexible than those
currently required in California for skilled nursing facilities and
continuous nursing facilities.
(3) The department shall establish criteria to measure the
benefits and successes of this type of long-term care facility, as a
whole, and to compare the results achieved by each model variant. The
department shall evaluate and analyze the emerging concepts in
long-term skilled nursing care developed pursuant to the pilot
program for purposes of considering future regulatory modification.
(b) Facilities that are eligible for participation in the pilot
program shall have all of the following characteristics:
(1) To the extent permitted under federal law, each home shall
consist of a homelike, rather than institutional, environment,
including the following characteristics:
(A) The home shall be accessible to disabled persons, and shall be
designed as a house, an apartment, or a distinct area within an
existing skilled nursing facility that meets the standards described
in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) that is similar to housing
available within the surrounding community, and that includes shared
areas that would only be commonly shared in a private home or
apartment.
(B) The home shall not, to the extent practicable, contain
institutional features. These include, but are not limited to,
nursing stations, medication carts, room numbers, and wall-mounted
licenses or certificates that could appropriately be accessed through
other means.
(C) (i) The home shall include resident rooms that accommodate not
more than two residents per room. Facilities are encouraged to
include private, single-occupancy bedrooms that are shared only at
the request of a resident to accommodate a spouse, partner, family
member, or friend, and that contain a full private and accessible
bathroom.
(ii) Double-occupancy rooms shall contain a full private and
accessible bathroom, and each resident's bedroom area shall be
visually separated from the other by a full height wall or a
permanently installed sliding door, folding door, or partition.
Walls, doors, or partitions used to separate resident bedroom areas
shall provide visual and acoustic separation. A door leading to each
resident's bedroom area in addition to the corridor door is not
required, unless needed to achieve visual or acoustic separation.
(iii) Each resident shall have direct use of, and access to, an
exterior window at all times.
(D) The home shall contain a living area where residents and staff
may socialize, dine, and prepare food together that provides, at a
minimum, a living room seating area, and a dining area large enough
to accommodate all residents and at least two staff members. The home
shall contain a full kitchen open to the living and dining rooms
that may be utilized by residents that shall provide for separation
in accordance with the California Building Standards Code.
(E) The home shall contain ample natural light.
(F) The home shall have built-in safety features to allow all
areas of the facility to be accessible to residents during the
majority of the day and night.
(G) The home shall provide access to secured outdoor space.
(H) The home shall endeavor to create an aging-in-place
environment where long-stay residents may form permanent homes with
each other.
(I) The home shall prepare, cook, and serve meals on a daily basis
for residents in the home. Nothing in this subparagraph shall
prohibit a home from utilizing outside resources in a manner approved
by the department.
(c) As used in this article, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Pilot facility" means a Small House Skilled Nursing Facility
(SHSNF) participating in the Small House Skilled Nursing Facilities
Pilot Program (SHSNF PP) established by this article.
(2) "Small house skilled nursing facility" (SHSNF) means a health
facility that provides skilled nursing care and supportive care in a
small, homelike, residential setting in an apartment, cottage, house,
or similar residential unit, to patients whose primary need is for
the availability of skilled nursing care on an extended basis. A
SHSNF may consist of a group or cluster of such residential homes,
each home having 12 or fewer beds, or a distinct area within an
existing skilled nursing facility that otherwise meets the definition
of a SHSNF, is physically separate and distinguishable from the
remainder of the skilled nursing facility, and has a distinct entry
with no through traffic of staff, residents, or visitors not
affiliated with the SHSNF. A SHSNF may also be a distinct part of a
general acute care hospital or an acute psychiatric hospital,
pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1418. Regardless of location,
all SHSNFs shall meet all standards.
(3) "Home" means an apartment, cottage, house, or other similar
residential unit that serves 12 or fewer residents.
(4) "Supportive care" includes the provision of socialization,
activity aide services, and homemaker services.
(5) "Homemaker services" means food preparation, housekeeping,
laundry, and maintenance services.
(6) "Versatile worker" means a certified nursing assistant who
provides personal care, socialization, activity aide services, meal
preparation services, and laundry and housekeeping services.
(d) Each pilot facility shall be subject to all licensing
enforcement provisions to which other skilled nursing facilities are
subject, including, but not limited to, Section 1424.5, Article 7.6
(commencing with Section 1324.20), and Article 8 (commencing with
Section 1325).
(e) Unless otherwise operating on an existing skilled nursing
facility license, each pilot facility shall be subject to the
Licensing and Certification program fee for skilled nursing
facilities pursuant to Section 1266.
(f) Each pilot facility shall receive a peer group weighted
average Medi-Cal reimbursement rate as calculated by the State
Department of Health Care Services.
(g) (1) Each pilot facility shall provide for consistent staff
assignments and self-managed work teams of direct care staff,
including staff working as versatile workers. Licensed nursing staff
shall direct the versatile workers in all activities delegated under
the licensed nurses' scope of practice. A versatile worker may be
supervised by nonclinical staff when performing nonclinical duties,
at the discretion of the facility.
(2) (A) The pilot facility shall provide training for all staff
involved in the operation of the home, to be completed prior to
initial operation of the home, concerning the philosophy, operations,
and skills required to implement and maintain self-directed care,
self-managed work teams, a noninstitutional approach to long-term
care, safety and emergency skills, food handling and safety, and
other elements necessary for the successful operation of the home.
Versatile workers and other staff interacting with residents in the
homes shall demonstrate proficiency in these areas as well as the
facility's policies and procedures, conflict resolution, and
self-directed care principles.
(B) Replacement staff shall undergo the training described in
subparagraph (A) within two weeks of commencing employment with the
pilot facility.
(h) A facility may be licensed by the department as a pilot
facility pursuant to this article if the facility meets both of the
following requirements:
(1) The facility has been determined by the department to comply
with all provisions necessary to be certified to participate as a
provider of care either as a skilled nursing facility in the federal
Medicare Program under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act
(42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395 et seq.) or as a nursing facility in the
federal Medicaid Program under Title XIX of the federal Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.), or as both.
(2) The facility has been determined by the department and the
Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to fully
comply with all pilot program requirements required under the
provisions of this article, including payment of the licensing fee
for a skilled nursing facility pursuant to Section 1266.
(i) In developing standards for this pilot program, the department
shall, together with OSHPD and the Office of the State Long-Term
Care Ombudsman, consult long-term care providers, health care
advocacy organizations, health care employee organizations, consumer
advocates, elder care advocates, and others identified as having a
vested interest in long-term health care.
(j) The department shall issue, by July 1, 2013, one or more all
facilities letters that provide the standards to be used by providers
accepted into the pilot program for the development and operation of
all pilot facilities.
(k) The department shall have authority to waive any standard for
skilled nursing facilities established elsewhere in this chapter,
Chapter 2.4 (commencing with Section 1417), and any regulations
adopted thereunder, if the health, safety, and quality of patient
care is not adversely affected. Prior written approval communicating
the terms and conditions under which the waiver is granted shall be
required. Applicants shall request the waiver in writing, accompanied
by detailed, supporting documentation.
(l) (1) Consistent with this article, the department shall invite
all eligible providers to submit an application to participate in the
SHSNF PP at specified intervals over the first two years of the
pilot program. The applications shall include sufficient information
to demonstrate the provider's experience in establishing and
operating one or more care facilities offering the level of care to
be furnished by pilot facilities, including the name and location of
each facility currently or previously licensed to the provider,
whether within California or in another state.
(2) The department may require that additional information and
documents be submitted with, or subsequently in support of, the
application. Failure to provide any required information or
documentation shall disqualify the applicant from the application
process and from consideration for participation in the pilot
program. The department may select providers for participation in the
SHSNF PP based on the applicant's ability to meet or exceed the
criteria described in this article.
(m) If, at any time, a pilot facility fails to meet the criteria
set forth in this article for being a pilot facility, or fails to
safeguard patient health, safety, welfare, and security as determined
by the department, the department shall remove that pilot facility
from participation in the pilot program.
(n) The costs of the creation, administration, and evaluation of
the pilot program shall be borne by the facilities participating in
the pilot project.
(o) Each pilot facility shall provide any reports to the
department that the department deems necessary for modifications to
the pilot program, the guidance or regulations governing the pilot
facilities, and any other information the pilot facilities deem
relevant in evaluating the success of the pilot program in delivering
improved patient care. The department may inspect any participating
pilot facility at any time.
(p) The department shall prepare and submit a report to the
Legislature on the results of the SHSNF PP. The department may
prepare the evaluation, analysis, and report itself, or may do so
under contract. The report shall be submitted to the Legislature at
least 24 months prior to the termination of the pilot program, and
shall include an evaluation of the pilot program's cost, safety, and
quality of care.
(q) Nothing in this section or pilot program shall be construed to
limit providers not participating in the pilot from pursuing
approval for similar practices through program flexibility or similar
existing process allowed by law.
1323.6. This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. Section 1.5 of this bill incorporates amendments to
Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by both this bill
and Senate Bill 135. It shall only become operative if (1) both
bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2013,
(2) each bill amends Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, and
(3) this bill is enacted after Senate Bill 135, in which case Section
1 of this bill shall not become operative.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.