Header:
PENNSYLVANIA STATUTES
TITLE 35. HEALTH AND SAFETY
CHAPTER 1C. HEALTH CARE FACILITIES ACT
CHAPTER 8. LICENSING OF HEALTH CARE FACILITIES
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
NOTICE: Where inconsistent with 71 P.S. § 532(n), 35 P.S. 448.101 et seq., known as the Health Care Facilities Act is repealed, pursuant to 1996-10, § 9(b).
§ 448.806. Licensure
(a) LICENSE REQUIRED.-- No person shall maintain or operate or hold itself out to be a health care facility without first having obtained a license therefor issued by the department. No health care facility can be a provider of medical assistance services unless it is licensed by the department and certified as a medical assistance provider.
(b) DEVELOPMENT OF REGULATIONS.-- In developing rules and regulations for licensure the department shall take into consideration Federal certification standards and the standards of other third party payors for health care services and such nationally recognized accrediting agencies as the department may find appropriate.
(c) FIRE AND EMERGENCY STANDARDS.-- Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than standards required for Federal certification by that type of health care facility in the Medicare or Medicaid program, no health care facility shall be required to satisfy any regulation relating to fire or similar emergency circumstance more stringent than those required of hospitals by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Organizations or such nationally recognized accrediting agencies as the department may find appropriate, and the department shall adopt and enforce the appropriate standards.
(d) HOME HEALTH CARE AGENCY REGULATIONS.-- In developing rules and regulations for licensure of home health care agencies the department shall take into consideration the standards of nationally recognized accrediting agencies as the department may find appropriate. Home health care agencies certified as providers by the department to the Federal Government for purposes of the Medicare program shall be deemed to comply with and satisfy the department's regulations governing home health care agencies.
(D.1) HOME CARE AGENCY AND HOME CARE REGISTRY LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS.--
(1) An individual with direct consumer contact employed by the home
care agency and an individual referred to a consumer by a home care
registry after the effective date of this subsection shall meet at
least one of the following requirements prior to referral to consumers:
(i) A valid nurse's license in this Commonwealth.
(ii) The successful completion of a nurse aide training program
approved by the department.
(iii) The successful completion of a home health aide training
program as provided in 42 CFR 484.36 (relating to condition of
participation: home health aide services) approved by the
department.
(iv) The successful completion of a personal care worker training
credentialing program approved by the department.
(v) The successful completion of a competency examination for persons
performing only activities of daily living services.
(2) An individual employed by a home care agency or referred by a home
care registry on the effective date of this subsection shall
successfully complete one of the training requirements set forth in
paragraph (1) within two years of the effective date of this
subsection.
(3) Documentation of compliance with at least one of the training
requirements under paragraph (1) shall be maintained in each
individual's file in the home care agency or home care registry office.
Documentation of applicable State licensure for any health care
practitioner shall also be maintained on file in the home care agency
or registry office.
(4) (i) Prior to licensing a home care agency or a home care
registry, the department shall determine that all individuals
employed by an agency or referred by a registry, staff working within
each entity and the owner or owners have obtained criminal history
record information, in accordance with the requirements of section
503 of the act of November 6, 1987 (P.L. 381, No. 79), known as the
"Older Adults Protective Services Act," and maintain that information
on file in the home care agency or registry office.
(ii) Prior to licensing a home care agency or a home care registry
which provides services to persons under 18 years of age, the
department shall determine that all individuals employed by an agency
or referred by a registry, all office staff working within each
entity and the owner or owners have obtained clearance from the child
abuse registry, in accordance with 23 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 (relating to
child protective services), and maintain that information on file in
the home care agency or registry office.
(5) Prior to referral to consumers, all individuals and any other
office staff or contractors with direct consumer contact must obtain
documentation from a physician or other appropriate health care
professional that the individual is free from communicable disease,
including, at a minimum, a tuberculosis screening as outlined by the
screening guidelines of the department. Such documentation must be
maintained on file in the home care agency or home care registry
office.
(6) Ongoing supervision of an employee by a home care agency or ongoing
documentation of the referral of an independent contractor by a home
care registry shall be maintained to ensure that the employee has the
skills necessary to provide the care required by the consumer.
(e) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.-- The department shall require disclosure of the persons owning 5% or more of the health care facility as well as the health care facility's officers and members of the board of directors.
(f) AMBULATORY SURGICAL FACILITIES STANDARDS.-- Within one year of the effective date of this act, to the extent possible, the department shall publish in the Pennsylvania Bulletin proposed regulations establishing revised standards for licensure of ambulatory surgical facilities. Such standards shall provide for separate licensure criteria for office-based surgical facilities and for comprehensive freestanding ambulatory surgical facilities, including, but not limited to:
(1) fire and safety standards;
(2) personnel and equipment requirements; and
(3) quality assurance procedures.
The purpose of such criteria shall be to assure quality care delivery in said facilities. Until such time the revised regulations are adopted, the existing rules and regulations governing the licensure of ambulatory surgical facilities shall apply.
(g) HOSPICES.--
(1) The department shall promulgate regulations to provide for a fee
for application for the licensure of hospices. The fee shall be an
amount sufficient to offset all costs incurred by the department
related to the licensure and inspection of hospices. The department
shall from time to time, as may be necessary, increase or decrease the
fee to reflect actual expenditures related to hospices. Until such
time as the department provides for the fee by regulation, an
application for a hospice license shall be accompanied by a fee of $
250.
(2) The department shall promulgate regulations for licensure of
hospices. The regulations shall, at a minimum, contain the standards
set forth in regulations for hospices certified as providers of the
Medicare program under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (49 Stat.
620, 42 U.S.C. § 1395 et seq.). The department may develop additional
regulations as necessary to administer the licensure program and to
protect the health and safety of the citizens of this Commonwealth.
Until final regulations are adopted, the department shall operate the
licensing program pursuant to interim guidelines consistent with this
paragraph.
(2.1) Within 180 days following the effective date of this paragraph,
the department shall promulgate proposed regulations, and, within 270
days following the effective date of this paragraph, the department
shall promulgate final regulations for the licensure and operation of
small residential hospices with 22 or fewer beds. Subject to Federal
approval under 42 CFR 418.100(d)(3) (relating to condition of
participation hospices that provide inpatient care directly), the
regulations shall create an alternative to the fire and safety
regulations for hospices certified as providers of the Medicare program
under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (49 Stat. 620, 42 U.S.C. §
1395 et seq.) that currently require hospices to meet standards for
nursing homes contained in the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code of
the National Fire Protection Association. In developing the
alternative for fire and safety regulations, the department shall
consider as a minimum the requirements for residential board and care
occupancies set forth in the 2006 edition of the Life Safety Code and
other applicable codes.
(3) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, any organization
which provides or coordinates the provision of volunteer services for
Medicare-certified hospice providers in the hospice delivery systems of
its community and which:
(i) used "hospice" in its name prior to January 1, 1990;
(ii) qualified for exemption from Federal income taxation under
section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Public Law
99-514, 26 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) prior to the effective date of this
subsection; and
(iii) registered with the Department of State pursuant to the act of
December 19, 1990 (P.L. 1200, No. 202), known as the "Solicitation
of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act," prior to the effective date of
this subsection; may continue to use its name as heretofore.
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