HB2255: Hospitals and nursing homes; licensure and inspection fees.

Legislative Summary

Hospitals and nursing homes; licensure and inspection fees; Hospital and Nursing Home Licensure and Inspection Program Fund established. Directs the State Board of Health to require in its regulations the establishment of fees for the issuance, change, or renewal of a hospital or nursing home license to cover the costs of operating the hospital and nursing home licensure and inspection program in a manner that ensures timely completion of inspections. The bill requires the Board to distribute the costs of operating the hospital and nursing home licensure and inspection program in an equitable manner across all hospitals and nursing homes and specifies that the amount of such fees shall change no more frequently than annually. Such fee changes shall only be initiated under the bill if the expenses are more than 10 percent greater or less than the annual costs of operating the licensure and inspection program in a manner that ensures timely completion of inspections. The bill also creates the Hospital and Nursing Home Licensure and Inspection Program Fund to be used for the purposes of supporting the activities of the licensure and inspections requirements administered pursuant to current law. The bill directs the Board to adopt emergency regulations to implement the provisions of the bill related to the establishment of such fees and specifies that the provisions pertaining to the creation of the Fund shall not become effective until the Board adopts such emergency regulations. This bill is identical to SB 1484.