House File 2585 - Reprinted
HOUSE FILE 2585
BY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 691)
(As Amended and Passed by the House February 26, 2024)
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to health care facilities, including joint
2 training sessions and review of certain citations for
3 nursing facilities, and exceptions to on-site inspections of
4 health care facilities following complaints.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 135C.35C Nursing facilities ——
2 joint training sessions.
3 The department shall semiannually provide joint training
4 sessions for inspectors and nursing facilities to review at
5 least three of the ten most frequently issued federal citations
6 in the state during the immediately preceding calendar year.
7 The department shall develop a protocol to identify regional
8 citation patterns relating to complaints, standards, and
9 outcomes in the nursing facility inspection process. The
10 department shall include the state long-term care ombudsman,
11 or the state long-term care ombudsman’s designee, and
12 representatives of each nursing facility provider association
13 in the state in the planning process for the joint training
14 sessions.
15 Sec. 2. Section 135C.38, subsection 1, paragraph a,
16 unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2024, is amended to read as
17 follows:
18 Upon receipt of a complaint made in accordance with section
19 135C.37, the department shall make a preliminary review of the
20 complaint. Unless the department concludes that the complaint
21 is intended to harass a facility or a licensee, or is without
22 reasonable basis, involves an issue that is either the same
23 subject of an incident self-reported by a facility or of a
24 complaint for which the self-reported incident or complaint
25 investigation concluded within the immediately preceding ninety
26 calendar days, or is a complaint that may be investigated by
27 the department off site through access to electronic records
28 and via telephonic interviews, the department shall make or
29 cause to be made an on-site inspection of the health care
30 facility which is the subject of the complaint within the time
31 period determined pursuant to the following guidelines, which
32 period shall commence on the date of receipt of the complaint:
33 Sec. 3. Section 135C.40, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended
34 by adding the following new paragraph:
35 NEW PARAGRAPH. d. (1) The department shall establish and
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1 maintain a process to review each citation issued for immediate
2 jeopardy or substandard quality of care prior to issuance of
3 final findings under section 135C.40A. Representatives of the
4 nursing facility issued such a citation may participate in
5 the review to provide context and evidence for the department
6 to consider in determining if a final finding of immediate
7 jeopardy or substandard quality of care should be issued. The
8 review shall ensure consistent and accurate application of
9 federal and state inspection protocols and defined regulatory
10 standards.
11 (2) For the purposes of this paragraph:
12 (a) “Immediate jeopardy” means a situation in which the
13 provider’s noncompliance with one or more requirements of
14 participation has caused, or is likely to cause, serious
15 injury, harm, impairment, or death to a resident.
16 (b) “Likely” means probable and reasonably to be expected,
17 and suggests a greater degree of probability than a mere risk,
18 potential, or possibility that a particular event will cause
19 serious injury, harm, impairment, or death to a resident.
20 (c) “Substandard quality of care” means the same as defined
21 in 42 C.F.R. §488.301.
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 135C.38, 135C.37
Reprinted: 135C.38, 135C.37