GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001

HOUSE BILL 736
RATIFIED BILL

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THAT LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES POST INFORMATION ABOUT STAFFING LEVELS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 131D‑4.3(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Pursuant to G.S. 143B‑165, the North Carolina Medical Care Commission shall adopt rules to ensure at a minimum, but shall not be limited to, the provision of the following by adult care homes:
(1)	Repealed by Session Laws 2000‑111, s. 1.
(2)	A minimum of 75 hours of training for personal care aides performing heavy care tasks and a minimum of 40 hours of training for all personal care aides. The training for aides providing heavy care tasks shall be comparable to State‑approved Certified Nurse Aide I training. For those aides meeting the 40‑hour requirement, at least 20 hours shall be classroom training to include at a minimum:
a.	Basic nursing skills;
b.	Personal care skills;
c.	Cognitive, behavioral, and social care;
d.	Basic restorative services;
e.	Residents' rights.
A minimum of 20 hours of training shall be provided for aides in family care homes that do not have heavy care residents. Persons who either pass a competency examination developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, have been employed as personal care aides for a period of time as established by the Department, or meet minimum requirements of a combination of training, testing, and experience as established by the Department shall be exempt from the training requirements of this subdivision;
(3)	Monitoring and supervision of residents;
(4)	Oversight and quality of care as stated in G.S. 131D‑4.1; and
(5)	Adult care homes shall comply with all of the following staffing requirements:
a.	First shift (morning): 0.4 hours of aide duty for each resident (licensed capacity or resident census), or 8.0 hours of aide duty per each 20 residents (licensed capacity or resident census) plus 3.0 hours for all other residents, whichever is greater;
b.	Second shift (afternoon): 0.4 hours of aide duty for each resident (licensed capacity or resident census), or 8.0 hours of aide duty per each 20 residents plus 3.0 hours for all other residents (licensed capacity or resident census), whichever is greater;
c.	Third shift (evening): 8.0 hours of aide duty per 30 or fewer residents (licensed capacity or resident census).
In addition to these requirements, the facility shall provide staff to meet the needs of the facility's heavy care residents equal to the amount of time reimbursed by Medicaid. As used in this subdivision, the term "heavy care resident" means an individual residing in an adult care home who is defined "heavy care" by Medicaid and for which the facility is receiving enhanced Medicaid payments for such needs. Each facility shall post in a conspicuous place information about required staffing that enables residents and their families to ascertain each day the number of direct care staff and supervisors that are on duty for each shift for that day."
SECTION 2. Part A of Article 6 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes is amended by adding the following new section to read:
"§ 131E-114.1. Posting of information indicating number of staff on duty.
Every nursing home subject to licensure under this Part shall post in a conspicuous place in the nursing home information about required staffing that enables residents and their families to readily ascertain each day the number of direct care staff and supervisors that are on duty for each shift for that day."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2001.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 7th day of May, 2001.

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		 Beverly E. Perdue
	 President of the Senate

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		 James B. Black
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

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		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2001