HB 727 – Adult Care Homes/Licensure by Accreditation

Primary House Sponsors: Rep. Michael Wray (D-Halifax, Northampton); Rep. Willian Brisson (R-Bladen, Sampson)

 

Summary

This bill

  • Permits an adult care home that has been licensed by DHHS for at least 12 months to be considered as meeting statutory requirements for licensure if the facility obtains assisted living program accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care or another DHHS-approved nationally recognized accrediting body.
  • States that adult care homes licensed by virtue of accreditation are not subject to routine inspections by DHHS or county departments of social services.
  • States that adult care homes licensed by virtue of accreditation are exempt from the rules adopted by the NC Medical Care Commission.
  • Requires accrediting bodies to receive approval from DHHS to issue adult care home licenses.
  • Appropriates $1.5M in nonrecurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year to be allocated to the NC Senior Living Association and the NC Assisted Living Association to be used to jointly administer an adult care home accreditation grant program to provide grants to licensed adult care homes to cover the cost of obtaining and maintaining a three-year accreditation from one of the accrediting bodies approved by DHHS.
  • Appropriates $350K in nonrecurring funds for the 2021-2022 fiscal year to be allocated to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the Program on Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care within the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research to be used to (1) develop and provide to DHHS a recommended list of criteria for measuring resident outcomes in adult care homes that are consistent with the criteria for assisted living program accreditation, (2) to monitor and compare the quality outcome measures approved by DHHS in adult care homes that obtained three-year assisted living program accreditation under the above-referenced grant program and non-accredited adult care homes licensed in the State, and (3) to prepare required reports.

 

Movement

Filed – 4/28/2021