Senate Bill No. 482
(By Senators Minard and Chafin)
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[Introduced February 5, 2010; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §16-5W-1, §16-5W-2
and §16-5W-3, all relating to creating the Long-Term Care
Facility Safety Act; requiring the Secretary of the Department
of Health and Human Resources to propose legislative rules
concerning access to long-term care facilities; identification
of applicants subject to the Sex Offender Registration Act;
and requiring that information about the sex offender registry
be given to residents and their families upon admission to a
long-term care facility.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §16-5W-1, §16-5W-2 and
§16-5W-3, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5W. LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY SAFETY ACT.
§16-5W-1. Short title.
This article is known and may be cited as the "Long-Term Care
Facility Safety Act."
§16-5W-2. Definitions.
"Long-term care facility" or "facility" means any private
nursing home, state nursing home, nursing home operated by a
hospital or assisted living facility regulated by the State of West
Virginia.
§16-5W-3. Secretary to implement standards.
The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human
Resources, or the secretary's designee, shall propose legislative
rules, pertaining to the safety of long-term care facilities which
shall include:
(1) A policy governing access to long-term care facilities,
which at minimum establishes an identification system that applies
to all employees and visitors. The identification system shall
require that:
(A) All staff inside a long-term care facility shall wear a
color-coded photo identification tags that is indicative of that
person's job responsibilities.
(B) Posters explaining the color-coded identification system
shall be placed in a central location within the facility and in
each resident's room.
(C) Any visitor to a long-term care facility shall sign in and
receive a temporary visitor's pass that shall be returned at the
time the visitor signs out and exits the facility;
(2) A formal process for licensed facilities to identify
applicants for admission to the facility who are subject to the Sex
Offender Registration Act governed by the provisions of article
twelve, chapter fifteen of this code; and
(3) A method of providing information concerning the Sex
Offender Registration Act to residents and their families at the
time of admission. This method must include information or
instruction on how to access the sex offender registry.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Secretary of
the Department of Health and Human Resources to propose legislative
rules regarding the safety of long-term care facilities.
This article is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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