Relating to long-term care facility and hospital practices including patient visitation and protections, and providing civil penalties

This bill relates to long-term care facility and hospital practices, including those related to patient visitation and protections. The bill is organized into divisions. Division I relates to resident and tenant visitation policies in long-term care facilities. The division provides definitions including those for “long-term care facility”, “national public health emergency”, “private pay facility”, and “public health disaster” for the purposes of the division. The division provides that during a national public health emergency (NPHE) or a public health disaster (PHD), a private pay long-term care facility may, at the discretion of the individual facility, implement in-person, indoor visitation policies for residents and tenants that are less restrictive than the policies applicable to long-term care facilities accepting public sources of payment. If such visitation policies are implemented, the long-term care facility shall post the policies in a conspicuous place on the premises. The division also requires the long-term care facility to provide the facility’s visitation policies to prospective and current residents and tenants and any individual the potential or current resident or tenant designates to receive information and disclosures relating to the potential or current resident’s or tenant’s care, at specific times. Failure to facilitate visitation as provided in the division is prohibited without an adequate and substantiated reason related to clinical necessity or resident safety. Division II relates to hospital practices regarding patient visitation and protections. The division provides that during a NPHE or PHD, a licensed hospital shall permit a patient admitted to the hospital to have visitation with at least two visitors who are related to the patient by consanguinity or affinity during at least four days in any Sunday through Saturday period for no less than five hours daily. However, if during the NPHE or PHD, the hospital’s personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile for patient visitors is sufficient to provide PPE for all patient visitors when the hospital is at full capacity including the provision of PPE for up to two daily visitors per patient, the hospital shall permit visitation with at least two visitors who are related to the patient by consanguinity or affinity during all seven days in any Sunday through Saturday period for no less than five hours daily. In all cases, any visitation shall be subject to the consent of the patient. The division provides that notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, whether or not during a NPHE or PHD, if a patient admitted to the hospital has end-of-life status, is a minor, or has a disability including but not limited to a physical, intellectual, or cognitive disability, a communication barrier or behavioral concern, or requires assistance due to the specifics of the person’s disability, the hospital shall permit visitation with individuals residing in the same residence as the patient and at least two visitors living in residences other than the patient’s residence. Nothing in the division is to be interpreted to require a hospital to alter historically established visitation policies unrelated to a NPHE or PHD. The division requires each hospital to maintain an onsite personal protective equipment stockpile for patient visitors and to designate a coordinator to evaluate and maintain the stockpile. When a NPHE or PHD is not in place, the stockpile shall include a sufficient supply to provide enough PPE for up to visitors per patient during the patient’s inpatient stay during which time the hospital is at full capacity; the hospital may count up to three-quarters of the PPE in the personal protective equipment stockpile for patient visitors toward the hospital’s required hospital emergency personal protective equipment stockpile for hospital personnel required under county, state, or federal law, at the discretion of the hospital or as required or permitted by law or the county, state, or federal regulatory authority; the hospital shall routinely monitor the stockpile to ensure that the PPE stockpiled is used prior to its expiration date and is encouraged to use the PPE stockpiled at least one year prior to its expiration date; at any time the remaining PPE in the stockpile constitutes three-quarters of the maximum required amount, the hospital shall make every reasonable effort to purchase and acquire the PPE necessary to stockpile the maximum required amount of PPE; at no point shall the stockpile be reduced to one-half of the maximum required amount; and any unforeseen shortages or difficulties in obtaining the amount of PPE required does not constitute a violation. The division also provides that during a NPHE or PHD, the personal protective equipment stockpile for patient visitors shall only be used for patient visitors, unless, through reasonable efforts, the hospital is unable to secure and make available to hospital personnel a sufficient amount of PPE. The department of inspections and appeals (DIA) shall ensure compliance with the division by inspecting each licensed hospital at least once every two years. The inspection may be conducted concurrently with any other scheduled or unscheduled inspection during the required time frame. DIA shall also provide a process for a person to file a complaint electronically, in person, or by mail, alleging a violation of the division. A hospital that violates a provision of the division by failing to maintain the required levels of PPE in the hospital’s onsite personal protective equipment stockpile for patient visitors or by failing to comply with the visitation requirements is subject to civil penalties as specified in the bill. The division is not to be construed to prevent a person from bringing a civil cause of action for a hospital’s failure to comply with the division based on any right the person may assert under statute or common law.