Chapter 118E of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 official edition

is hereby amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new section: -

Section 79. Nursing facilities licensed pursuant to section seventy-one of chapter 111 of the general laws must have sufficient nursing staff with the appropriate competencies and skills sets to provide nursing and related services to assure resident safety and attain or maintain the highest practicable physical, mental, and psychosocial well-being of each resident, as determined by resident assessments and individual plans of care and considering the number, acuity and diagnoses of the facility's resident population in accordance with the facility assessment required at 42 CFR 483.70(e).  For the purpose of setting MassHealth nursing facility rates, the executive office of health and human services shall recognize its full share of the actual nursing costs of meeting this requirement.  In recognizing its full share of the actual nursing costs for Medicaid nursing facility residents, the executive office of health and human services shall not apply any so called efficiency standard for the purpose of reducing workforce funding.