SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the Department of Public Health shall amend 105 CMR 150.000: Standards for Long Term Care Facilities, establishing regulations for the operation of small house nursing homes. The amendments shall include a definition of small house nursing homes as 1 or more units of a nursing home designed and modeled as a private home including residential kitchen and living area. Small house nursing homes shall house no more than 14 individuals per unit, in resident rooms that accommodate not more than 2 residents per room, which are shared only at the request of a resident to accommodate a spouse, partner, family member or friend. All resident rooms shall contain a full private and accessible bathroom.

Regulations for small house nursing homes shall, to the extent practicable, prohibit the use of institutional features, including but not limited to nursing stations, medication carts, room numbers and wall-mounted licenses or certificates that could appropriately be accessed through other means.

Regulations for construction and physical plant standards should be based on the smaller size and limited number of residents served in small house nursing homes in comparison with traditional nursing facility units. In addition to development of construction and physical plant standards that support small house nursing homes, regulations shall support a staffing model in small house nursing homes that allow for a universal worker approach to resident care that is organized to support and empower all staff to respond to the needs and desires of residents including cooking and meal preparation, and provides for consistent staff in each small house.

SECTION 2. The Department of Public Health is hereby directed to accept applications for new long-term care beds that will be operated under a small house model of care as defined in section 1 above.

SECTION 3. The executive office of health and human services is hereby directed to establish standard rates of payment for nursing facilities that fully reimburse for capital costs of small house nursing homes.