LCO No. 4993 1 of 2
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1057
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 4993
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT CONCERNING NU RSING HOMES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) (a) As used in this section, 1
"nursing home" means (1) any chronic and convalescent nursing home 2
or any rest home with nursing supervision that provides nursing 3
supervision under a medical director twenty-four hours per day, or (2) 4
any chronic and convalescent nursing home that provides skilled 5
nursing care under medical supervision and direction to carry out 6
nonsurgical treatment and dietary procedures for chronic diseases, 7
convalescent stages, acute diseases or injuries. 8
(b) On or before January 1, 2022, the Department of Public Health 9
shall establish minimum staffing level requirements for nursing homes 10
of at least four and one-tenth hours of direct care per resident, including 11
seventy-five hundredths hours of care by a registered nurse, fifty-four 12
hundredths hours of care by a licensed practical nurse and two and 13
eighty-one hundredths hours of care by a certified nurse's assistant. 14
(c) The Commissioner of Public Health, in consultation with the 15 Raised Bill No. 1057
LCO No. 4993 2 of 2
Commissioner of Social Services, shall (1) review the current definition 16
of the term "direct care" in the regulations of Connecticut state agencies 17
and consider redefining the term for purposes of minimum staffing level 18
requirements, (2) review and implement best practices for establishing 19
and maintaining minimum staffing levels at nursing homes, (3) 20
encourage nursing homes to adopt payment incentives for staff to work 21
in a single nursing home, and (4) prohibit the hiring of any person 22
subject to a consent order issued by the Department of Public Health for 23
violations of health and safety regulations pertaining to nursing homes 24
from working at a nursing home in any capacity. 25
(d) The Commissioner of Social Services, in consultation with the 26
Commissioner of Public Health, shall establish a minimum percentage 27
of Medicaid reimbursement to nursing homes for the provision of direct 28
care to nursing home residents. 29
(e) The Commissioner of Public Health shall adopt regulations in 30
accordance with chapter 54 of the general statutes to implement the 31
provisions of this section. 32
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To change the minimum staffing levels at nursing home facilities.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]