Senate File 508 - Introduced SENATE FILE 508 BY TRONE GARRIOTT A BILL FOR An Act requiring joint training sessions for nursing home 1 inspectors and nursing facilities related to skilled nursing 2 and therapy services. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 1721XS (4) 91 lh/ko
S.F. 508 Section 1. Section 135C.35C, Code 2025, is amended to read 1 as follows: 2 135C.35C Nursing facilities joint training sessions. 3 1. The department shall semiannually provide joint training 4 sessions for inspectors and nursing facilities to review at 5 least three of the ten most frequently issued federal citations 6 in the state during the immediately preceding calendar year. 7 The department shall develop a protocol to identify regional 8 citation patterns relating to complaints, standards, and 9 outcomes in the nursing facility inspection process. The 10 department shall include the state long-term care ombudsman, 11 or the state long-term care ombudsmans designee, and 12 representatives of each nursing facility provider association 13 in the state in the planning process for the joint training 14 sessions. 15 2. The department shall provide at least one joint training 16 session for inspectors and nursing facilities that provides 17 information and background relating to the settlement agreement 18 approved by the court in Jimmo v. Sebelius , No. 5:11-CV-17 19 (D. Vt.), on January 1, 2013, including that the settlement 20 agreement clarifies the policy of the federal centers for 21 Medicare and Medicaid services of the United States department 22 of health and human services that coverage of skilled nursing 23 and skilled therapy services in a skilled nursing facility, a 24 home health setting, and an outpatient therapy setting does not 25 turn on a beneficiarys potential for improvement, but rather 26 on the beneficiarys need for skilled care. 27 EXPLANATION 28 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 29 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 30 This bill requires the department of health and human 31 services to provide at least one joint training session for 32 nursing facility inspectors and nursing facilities related 33 to the settlement agreement approved by the court on January 34 1, 2013, in Jimmo v. Sebelius, No. 5:11-CV-17 (D. Vt.). The 35 -1- LSB 1721XS (4) 91 lh/ko 1/ 2
S.F. 508 settlement agreement clarifies the policy of the federal 1 centers for Medicare and Medicaid of the United States 2 department of health and human services that coverage of 3 skilled nursing and therapy in a skilled nursing facility, a 4 home health setting, or an outpatient therapy setting relies on 5 a beneficiarys need for skilled care, not the beneficiarys 6 potential for improvement. 7 -2- LSB 1721XS (4) 91 lh/ko 2/ 2