SB 895, as amended, Corbett. Residential care facilities for the elderly: unannounced visits.
Existing law, the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires that every licensed residential care facility for the elderly be subject to unannounced visits by the department and requires the department to visit these facilities as often as necessary to ensure the quality of care provided, but no less often than once every 5 years. Existing law requires the department to conduct an annual unannounced visit under specified circumstances, including when a license is on probation, and to conduct annual unannounced visits to no less than 20% of the facilities not subject to an evaluation under specified circumstances. Existing law requires the department to notify the residential care facility for the elderly in writing of all deficiencies and to set a reasonable length of time for compliance by the facility. Existing law requires inspection reports, consultation reports, lists of deficiencies, and plans of correction to be open to public inspection.
This bill would instead require the department to perform these unannounced inspections at least once each year and would authorize the department to conduct additional unannounced inspections under specified circumstances. The bill would delete the provisions requiring the department to conduct annual unannounced visits to no less than 20% of the facilities and the provisions requiring an unannounced visit no less often than once every 5 years. The bill would require the department, with each annual inspection, to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of a facility for compliance with the laws and regulations governing residential care facilities for the elderly. The bill would also require the department to verify that a facility is in
compliance no later than 10 days after the notification of deficiencies in compliance and would require inspection reports, consultation reports, lists of deficiencies, and plans of correction to be open to public inspection on the department’s Internet Web sitebegin delete orend deletebegin insert and inend insert its district offices.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 1569.33 of the Health and Safety Code
2 is amended to read:
(a) Every licensed residential care facility for the
4elderly shall be subject to unannounced inspections by the
5department. The department shall perform these unannounced
6inspections at least once each year and as often as necessary to
7ensure the quality of care provided. With each annual inspection,
8the department shall conduct a comprehensive evaluation of a
9facility for compliance with the laws and regulations governing
10residential care facilities for the elderly.
11(b) The department may conduct additional unannounced
12inspections of a facility under any of the following circumstances:
13(1) When a license is on probation.
14(2) When the terms of agreement in a facility compliance plan
15require additional inspections.
16(3) When an accusation against a licensee is pending.
17(4) When a facility requires additional inspections as a condition
18of receiving federal financial participation.
P3 1(5) In order to verify that a person who has been ordered out of
2the facility for the elderly by the department is no longer at the
3facility.
4(c) The department shall notify the residential care facility for
5the elderly in writing of all deficiencies in its compliance with the
6provisions of this
chapter and the rules and regulations adopted
7pursuant to this chapter, and shall verify that the facility is in
8compliance no later than 10 days after the notification. The 10-day
9compliance period may be extended up to an additional 30 days
10if the department determines that the delay will not adversely
11impact the health, safety, and security of facility residents.
12(d) Reports on the results of each inspection, evaluation, or
13consultation shall be kept on file in the department, and all
14inspection reports, consultation reports, lists of deficiencies, and
15plans of correction shall be open to public inspection on the
16department’s Internet Web sitebegin delete orend deletebegin insert and inend insert its district
offices.
17(e) As a part of the department’s evaluation process, the
18department shall review the plan of operation, training logs, and
19marketing materials of any residential care facility for the elderly
20that advertises or promotes special care, special programming, or
21a special environment for persons with dementia to monitor
22compliance with Sections 1569.626 and 1569.627.
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