Senate Bill No. 580
(By Senator Dittmar)
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[Introduced February 21, 2000; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article five-h, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to providing that
residential care homes with eight or less residents, all of
whose care is privately funded, are exempt from the
requirement that a licensed practical nurse administer
medications.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article five-h, chapter sixteen of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5H. RESIDENTIAL BOARD AND CARE HOMES.
§16-5H-5. Rules; minimum standards for residential board and
care homes.
(a) All rules shall be approved by the secretary and
promulgated in the manner provided by the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The secretary shall
adopt, amend or repeal such rules as may be necessary or proper to
carry out the purposes and intent of this article and to enable the
director to exercise the powers and perform the duties conferred
upon the director by this article.
(b) The secretary shall promulgate rules establishing minimum
standards of operation of residential board and care homes
including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Administrative policies, including: (A) An affirmative
statement of the right of access to residential board and care
homes by members of recognized community organizations and
community legal services programs whose purposes include rendering
assistance without charge to residents, consistent with the right
of residents to privacy; and (B) a statement of the rights and
responsibilities of residents;
(2) Minimum numbers and qualifications of personnel, including
management, medical and nursing, aides, orderlies and support personnel, according to the size and classification of the
residential board and care home: Provided, That no residential
care home with eight or less residents, all of whose care is
privately funded, shall be required to provide a licensed practical
nurse to administer medications;
(3) Safety requirements;
(4) Sanitation requirements;
(5) Protective and personal services to be provided;
(6) Dietary services to be provided;
(7) Maintenance of health records;
(8) Social and recreational activities to be made available;
(9) Physical facilities;
(10) Requirements related to limited and intermittent nursing
care; and
(11) Such other categories as the secretary determines to be
appropriate to ensure resident's health, safety and welfare.
(c) The secretary shall include in rules detailed standards
for each of the categories of standards established pursuant to
subsections (b) and (d) of this section, and shall classify such
standards as follows: Class I standards are standards the
violation of which, the secretary determines, would present either an imminent danger to the health, safety or welfare of any resident
or a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm
would result; Class II standards are standards which the secretary
determines have a direct or immediate relationship to the health,
safety or welfare of any resident, but which do not create imminent
danger; Class III standards are standards which the secretary
determines have an indirect or a potential impact on the health,
safety or welfare of any resident.
(d) A residential board and care home shall attain substantial
compliance with standards established pursuant to section five of
this article, and
such any
other requirements for a license as may
be established by rule under this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that residential
care homes with eight or less residents, all of whose care is
privately funded, are exempt from the requirement that a licensed
practical nurse administer medications.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.