SECTION 1. The Department of Public Health shall amend the Licensure Procedure and Suitability Requirements for Long-Term Care Facilities in Massachusetts regulations (105 CMR 153).

Such amendment shall improve upon the Application for a License (105 CMR 153.006) and/or Other Licensure (105 CMR 153.007) procedures included in the existing regulations to establish new requirements for applicants that would precede approval any application for a new license and/or any notice of intent for transfer of ownership or notice of intent to sell any skilled nursing facility whether for-profit or non-profit. 

The Department of Public Health, the Office of Elder Affairs, the Office of Medicaid and the Office of the Attorney General shall work together with all interested stakeholders to review and develop recommendations for the improvements outlined above to the licensing of long term care facilities in the Commonwealth.  Such recommendations shall include amendments to these regulations to:

a)Establish additional threshold requirements for applicants seeking to be “deemed suitable by the department under 105 CMR 153.006(D).  Such new requirements shall include but not be limited to mandating submission of an annual operating budget and of an attestation concerning any anticipated changes to the facility’s workforce or working conditions.  Subject to approval and amendment by the department, stakeholder shall also recommend provisions to establish a “provisional licensure” procedure under which original applicants not currently doing business in the Commonwealth would be issued a provisional original license that would be further subject to bi-annual review and revocation procedures within the first year of operation.

b)Provide more transparent, timely and complete public access to information concerning skilled nursing facility licensing and suitability determination standards; and

c)Otherwise enhance the regulation of skilled nursing facilities in the Commonwealth.

SECTION 2. The Department of Public Health shall host the stakeholder process outlined above, review recommendations from those stakeholders and other state Offices, and submit appropriate amendments to 105 CMR 153 for public review no later than 6 months after passage of this Act.