Researcher: ND Page 1 6/5/21
OLR Bill Analysis
HB 6457 (as amended by House "A")*
AN ACT CONCERNING NURSING HOME SERVICES.
SUMMARY
This bill requires a nursing home to give its employee, or the
employee of a contractor providing services at the home, access to a
resident’s virtual monitoring or virtual visitation technology under the
following conditions:
1. the employee is the subject of a proposed disciplinary action by
the nursing home based on evidence obtained from the
technology;
2. the nursing home grants the access for the employee to defend
his- or herself against the disciplinary action;
3. the employee and nursing home treat any recordings or images
obtained from the resident’s technology as confidential and do
not further disseminate them, except as required by law; and
4. any copy of a recording or image used in the proposed
disciplinary action is returned to the resident who provided it
when the employee no longer needs it to defend against the
action.
The bill also allows the long-term care ombudsman, without
consulting the nursing home, to ask a resident about the existence of
recordings or images taken from virtual monitoring or virtual
visitation technology that could corroborate an abuse or neglect
allegation.
Additionally, the bill allows a resident, or resident representative, to
voluntarily release recordings or images taken from virtual monitoring
or virtual visitation technology if doing so does not infringe on another 2021HB-06457-R01-BA.DOCX
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person’s privacy rights under state or federal law. It prohibits a
nursing home, or its agent or employee, from soliciting or requesting
such recordings or images from a resident or resident representative,
except to investigate an abuse or neglect allegation based upon them.
If the Department of Public Health initiates a complaint
investigation based on a recording or image, the bill requires the
department to provide a copy of it to the nursing home that is the
subject of the investigation.
Under the bill, “technology” means a device capable of remote
audio or video communications that may include recording
capabilities. A “resident representative” is a person who is the
resident’s (1) legally appointed health care representative, guardian, or
conservator; (2) designee, as indicated in a signed written document in
the resident’s facility records; or (3) legally liable relative or other
responsible party who is not a facility employee or contractor.
*House Amendment “A” replaces the original bill (File 162) and
removes the provision requiring the social services commissioner to
study the state’s nursing homes and adds the provisions on virtual
monitoring and virtual visitation technology.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2021
COMMITTEE ACTION
Aging Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 16 Nay 0 (03/11/2021)