Bill Text: PA HB494 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Requiring long-term care nursing homes to maintain certain staffing levels in order to protect the health and safety of residents and employees; providing for enforcement by the Department of Health; and imposing civil penalties.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 27-5)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-02-18 - Referred to AGING AND OLDER ADULT SERVICES [HB494 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HB494-Introduced.html

---

PRINTER'S NO. 546
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 494 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY P. COSTA, BELFANTI, BISHOP, BRENNAN, BEYER, CARROLL, CONKLIN, CRUZ, DeLUCA, FABRIZIO, FRANKEL, GIBBONS, GOODMAN, GROVE, GRUCELA, HALUSKA, KORTZ, MAHONEY, M. O'BRIEN, RAPP, SIPTROTH, SOLOBAY, STABACK, THOMAS, WALKO, WHITE AND YUDICHAK, FEBRUARY 18, 2009
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON AGING AND OLDER ADULT SERVICES, FEBRUARY 18, 2009
AN ACT
Requiring long-term care nursing homes to maintain certain
staffing levels in order to protect the health and safety of
residents and employees; providing for enforcement by the
Department of Health; and imposing civil penalties.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) The Commonwealth has a large and growing population
of senior and disabled persons who require nursing facility
care.
(2) Significant staffing resources are necessary to
provide quality care to our senior and disabled citizens who
reside in nursing homes.
(3) Long-term care nursing facilities which receive
public money should be required to provide at all times
staffing resources to meet the minimum levels necessary to
provide quality care to each resident.
(4) Nursing facilities which receive public money have a
responsibility to report to residents, their families and the
taxpayers of this Commonwealth the staffing levels that they
provide for the residents in their care.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Nursing Home
Staffing Level Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Afternoon shift." A shift commencing no earlier than 2 p.m.
and no later than 4 p.m.
"Department." The Department of Health of the Commonwealth.
"Licensed nurse." A registered nurse or licensed practical
nurse.
"Morning shift." A shift commencing no earlier than 6 a.m.
and no later than 8 a.m.
"Nighttime shift." A shift commencing no earlier than 10
p.m. and no later than 12 midnight.
"Shift." A work period consisting of approximately eight
hours unless otherwise established under a collective bargaining
agreement.
Section 3. Minimum staffing standards for unlicensed and
licensed nursing personnel.
(a) General rule.--The department shall not issue or renew a
license of a long-term care nursing facility unless that
facility employs nursing personnel sufficient in number to
provide continuous 24-hour nursing care and service sufficient
to meet the needs of each resident in the facility.
20090HB0494PN0546 - 2 -
(b) Nurse aide ratios.--A long-term care nursing facility
shall maintain a ratio of residents to nurse aides of no more
than:
(1) Eight to one during a morning shift.
(2) Ten to one during an afternoon shift.
(3) Fifteen to one during a nighttime shift.
(c) Licensed nurse ratios.--A long-term care nursing
facility shall maintain a ratio of residents to licensed nurses
of no more than:
(1) Fifteen to one during a morning shift.
(2) Twenty-five to one during an afternoon shift.
(3) Thirty-five to one during a nighttime shift.
(d) Restrictions on nursing staff services.--No employee
designated as a member of the nursing staff shall provide the
following services:
(1) Food preparation.
(2) Housekeeping.
(3) Laundry.
(4) Maintenance.
A person employed to provide those services shall not provide
nursing care to residents and shall not be counted in
determining the ratios in subsections (b) and (c).
Section 4. Public right to staffing information and posting.
A long-term care nursing facility shall post for each wing
and floor of the facility and for each shift, the current number
of licensed and unlicensed nursing staff directly responsible
for resident care and the current ratios of residents to staff,
which show separately the number of residents to licensed
nursing staff and the number of residents to unlicensed nursing
staff. The information shall be posted for the most recently
20090HB0494PN0546 - 3 -
concluded cost reporting period in the form of average daily
staffing ratios for that period. The information must be posted
in a manner which is visible and accessible to all residents,
their families, caregivers and potential consumers in each
facility.
Section 5. Enforcement.
(a) Civil penalty for staffing violation.--The department
shall impose a civil penalty upon any facility that fails to
meet the staffing requirements set forth in section 3. The
penalty shall be imposed for each day on which the failure
occurs.
(b) Amount of penalty.--The amount of penalty in subsection
(a) shall be determined as follows:
(1) For deficiencies in staffing which constitute
immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety and for
repeat deficiencies when a monetary penalty has been
previously imposed, the amount of the penalty shall be not
less than $3,050 nor more than $10,000 for each day of the
failure.
(2) For deficiencies in staffing which do not constitute
immediate jeopardy to resident health or safety, the amount
of the penalty shall be not less than $50 nor more than
$3,000 for each day of the failure.
(c) Civil penalty for posting violation.--The department
shall impose a civil penalty upon any facility that fails to
meet the posting requirements set forth in section 4. The
penalty shall be in the amount of $100 for each day upon which
the facility fails to fully satisfy the posting requirements of
this act.
(d) Legal presumption.--In addition to the penalty set forth
20090HB0494PN0546 - 4 -
in subsections (a) and (b), in any action brought by or on
behalf of a resident of the facility, the resident's heirs, or
both, for negligent infliction of harm or lack of adequate care,
a failure to meet the staffing requirements of section 1 shall
be presumed a contributory cause of any injury sustained by a
resident.
Section 6. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
20090HB0494PN0546 - 5 -