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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 7026
AN ACT CONCERNING EXCEPTIONS TO THE NURSING HOME
BED MORATORIUM.
SUMMARY
Existing law establishes a nursing home bed moratorium that
generally prohibits the Department of Social Services (DSS) from
accepting or approving certificate of need (CON, see BACKGROUND)
requests for more nursing home beds, with certain exceptions.
This bill adds a new exception that allows DSS to approve a request
to add new Medicaid-certified beds to existing or new nursing homes.
When doing so, the department must give preference to nontraditional,
small-house style nursing homes whose goals are in keeping with the
department’s long-term care strategic plan to address facility needs in
priority census tracts.
Under existing law and the bill, the DSS commissioner must consider
several factors when reviewing these requests, such as whether there is
clear public need to add new Medicaid-certified beds. When
determining public need, the commissioner must consider whether
there is a demonstrated bed need in the towns within a 15-mile radius
of the town where the new beds will be added. (Existing law also
requires the commissioner to do this when considering requests to
relocate beds to a replacement nursing home.)
The bill also modifies how bed need is determined for CON requests.
Under the bill, a service area with a demonstrated bed need is one whose
nursing home occupancy is above 96% for at least two consecutive
quarters. The DSS commissioner may also consider the service area’s
projected future bed need above 96% occupancy using its latest strategic
statewide long-term care rebalancing plan.
Currently, demonstrated bed need is based on a service area’s 2025HB-07026-R000151-BA.DOCX
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nursing home occupancy (the law does not specify a percentage) and
projected bed need for up to five years at 97.5% occupancy using the (1)
Office of Policy and Management’s latest population projections by
town and age and (2) Department of Public Health’s latest available
nursing home utilization statistics by age cohort.
The bill also makes technical changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage
BACKGROUND
DSS CON Program
By law, nursing homes, rest homes, and intermediate care facilities
for people with intellectual disabilities must generally receive CON
approval from DSS when (1) introducing new services, (2) changing
ownership, (3) relocating licensed beds or decreasing bed capacity, (4)
terminating a service, or (5) incurring certain capital expenditures.
Exceptions to Nursing Home Bed Moratorium
For over thirty years, the state has placed a moratorium on new
nursing home beds, except for those:
1. restricted to use by patients with AIDS or who require
neurological rehabilitation;
2. associated with a continuing care facility, if they are not used for
Medicaid patients;
3. that are Medicaid-certified and relocated from one licensed
nursing home to another or to a new facility, under certain
conditions; and
4. in certain nontraditional, small-house style nursing homes.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Human Services Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 23 Nay 0 (03/04/2025)