This bill restores the ability of nursing facilities to voluntarily reduce the number of their licensed beds and then later increase the number of their licensed beds to the prior level after obtaining a certificate of need and meeting certain conditions. The bill modifies the process to obtain certificate of need approval to reopen reserved beds. Applications that seek to reopen reserved beds must be approved if the projected incremental costs of reopening and operating the reopened beds are consistent with the facility's costs of operating its other beds. Applicants are not required to demonstrate that any increases in MaineCare costs are offset by other MaineCare savings. The costs of ongoing operation of both the restored beds and the complement of facility beds at the time the reserved beds are reopened must be recognized as allowable costs and incorporated into the facility's MaineCare payment rates. The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to include in its calculation of reimbursement for services provided by a nursing facility the cost incurred by the facility for a medical director. The bill requires the cost incurred by a nursing facility for the acquisition, use and maintenance of computer or cloud-based software systems to be included as a fixed cost.
30

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 938, HP 585: 22.333, 22.1720