HB 528: "An Act relating to applications for certificates of need and licensing of nursing homes; amending the standard of review for certificates of need for health care facilities in the state; establishing a moratorium with respect to new applications by prohibiting the issuance of a certificate of need or a license for additional nursing home capacity in the state until July 1, 1998; and providing for an effective date."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 528 01 "An Act relating to applications for certificates of need and licensing of nursing 02 homes; amending the standard of review for certificates of need for health care 03 facilities in the state; establishing a moratorium with respect to new applications 04 by prohibiting the issuance of a certificate of need or a license for additional 05 nursing home capacity in the state until July 1, 1998; and providing for an 06 effective date." 07 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 * Section 1. FINDINGS. The legislature finds that 09 (1) the current availability of nursing home beds exceeds the actual need for 10 nursing home beds in the state; 11 (2) since 1989, based on national statistics, this state has had one of the lowest 12 statewide occupancy rates for nursing homes in the nation, with a 77.5 percent occupancy rate 13 in 1992 being the second lowest in the nation; in 1995, statistics show that the statewide 14 nursing home occupancy rate in the state was only 85 percent, which is still low by national
01 standards; 02 (3) many nursing home residents would benefit from care that is less intensive 03 and less costly than nursing home care through assisted living facilities or through home care 04 agencies; 05 (4) this state has only recently begun to develop a system for providing long- 06 term care for seniors needing care through home care or assisted living facilities so that the 07 long-term care system is not in balance at the present time; 08 (5) with the unnecessary focus on nursing homes, the long-term care system 09 will remain out of balance until community-based services can be developed; 10 (6) a moratorium on the addition of nursing home beds will encourage the 11 development of home and community-based services, and direct the state's resources toward 12 the services that can best meet the needs of the recipients; and 13 (7) a moratorium on the addition of nursing home beds will facilitate actions 14 to provide a more balanced system of care, more appropriate placement of seniors, and 15 additional client choice, and to avoid new long-term care costs. 16 * Sec. 2. AS 18.07.041 is amended to read: 17 Sec. 18.07.041. STANDARD OF REVIEW FOR APPLICATIONS FOR 18 CERTIFICATES OF NEED. The office may [SHALL] grant a sponsor a certificate 19 of need or modify a certificate of need if the department finds a lack of available 20 [THE AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY OF EXISTING] health care resources in the 21 state. The office shall consider the most cost-effective means of providing services 22 and consider the state and federal financing available for those services before 23 determining that a certificate will be granted [OR THE ACCESSIBILITY TO 24 THOSE RESOURCES IS LESS THAN THE CURRENT OR PROJECTED 25 REQUIREMENT FOR HEALTH SERVICES REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN THE 26 GOOD HEALTH OF CITIZENS OF THIS STATE]. 27 * Sec. 3. MORATORIUM FOR CERTIFICATE OF NEED. (a) Notwithstanding 28 AS 18.07, the Department of Health and Social Services may not accept an application for a 29 certificate of need under AS 18.07, and the department may not grant a certificate of need 30 based on an application filed before the effective date of this Act, except as provided in (b) 31 of this section, for
01 (1) construction of a health care facility that includes nursing home beds 02 requiring licensure under AS 18.20.020; or 03 (2) conversion of a building or part of a building to include nursing home beds. 04 (b) The Department of Health and Social Services shall consider the findings in sec. 1 05 of this Act when reviewing an application under AS 18.07 that was pending on the effective 06 date of this Act for the addition of nursing home beds or the conversion of existing beds to 07 nursing home beds. The department may grant a pending application only when granting it 08 would be consistent with the policy underlying the findings in sec. 1 of this Act. 09 (c) Notwithstanding AS 18.20, the department may not issue a license for 10 (1) construction of a health care facility that includes new nursing home beds; 11 or 12 (2) additional new nursing home beds in a health care facility. 13 (d) In this section, "nursing home bed" means a bed not used for acute care in which 14 nursing care and related medical services are provided over a period of 24 hours each day to 15 individuals admitted because of illness, disease, or physical infirmity; the term "nursing home 16 bed" does not include acute care beds converted to skilled nursing home beds used for 17 transitional short-term care needs. 18 * Sec. 4. Sections 1 and 3 of this Act are repealed July 1, 1998. 19 * Sec. 5. This Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).