Senate Bill No. 246
(By Senators Prezioso, Jackson, Bowman, Fanning, Unger,
Edgell, Kessler, McCabe, Bailey, Anderson, Minard, Sharpe,
Ross, Mitchell, Oliverio, Facemyer, Sprouse, Minear, Boley,
Helmick and Plymale)
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[Introduced January 18, 2002; referred to the Committee
on Banking and Insurance; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seven, article five-l,
chapter sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the
education and training requirements for a regional long-
term care ombudsman.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seven, article five-l, chapter sixteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5L. LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN PROGRAM.
§16-5L-7. Regional long-term care ombudsmen; qualifications;
duties; training; certification.
(a) Each regional long-term care ombudsman program shall
employ one or more regional long-term care ombudsmen to effect
the purposes of this article. The regional long-term care
ombudsman shall have either: (1) At least a four-year degree in
gerontology, social work, health, or a related field and
demonstrated experience in one of the following areas: (A) The
field of aging; (B) health care or social service programs; (C)
community programs; or (D) long-term care issues; or (2) at
least a four-year bachelor's degree in any field and at least
three years of experience in gerontology, social work, health or
a related field. Additional years of experience in gerontology,
social work, health or a related field may be substituted for up
to two years (sixty hours) of college on a year-for-year basis.
The supervising ombudsman must have at least a bachelor's
degree in gerontology, social work, health or a related field
and demonstrated experience in one of the following areas: (A)
The field of aging; (B) health care or social service programs;
(C) community programs; and (D) long-term care issues. Persons
employed in a designated regional long-term care ombudsman
program on the date of enactment of this article may be given a
waiver from these requirements provided that within one year from the date of enactment of this article they enter into a
program leading to a degree in gerontology, social work, health
or a related field or complete fifty hours of continuing
education units in gerontology, social work, health or a related
field every two calendar year periods. The regional long-term
care ombudsman shall participate in ongoing training programs
related to his or her duties or responsibilities. The regional
long-term care ombudsman may not have been employed within the
past two years prior to the date of his or her employment under
this section by any association of long-term care facilities.
If a regional long-term care ombudsman has been employed within
the past two years prior to the date of his or her employment
under this section by a long-term care facility, or by any
organization or corporation that directly or indirectly
regulates, owns or operates a long-term care facility, that
ombudsman may not act with the authority of a regional long-term
care ombudsman in the facility of prior employment or in any
other facility regulated, owned or operated by the same
ownership as the facility of prior employment.
(b) Neither the regional long-term care ombudsman nor any
member of his or her immediate family may have, or have had
within the two years preceding his or her employment under this
section, any pecuniary interest in the provision of long-term care. For the purposes of this section, the term "immediate
family" shall mean the spouse, children, natural mother, natural
father, natural brothers or natural sisters of the regional
long-term care ombudsman.
(c) The duties of the regional long-term care ombudsman
shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Regularly monitoring long-term care facilities and
investigating complaints filed on behalf of a resident, or filed
on the regional long-term care ombudsman's own initiative,
relating to the health, safety, welfare and rights of such
residents, in accordance with complaint investigation procedures
developed by the state long-term ombudsman care program:
Provided,
That nothing in this section shall be construed as to
grant a regional long-term care ombudsman the right of entry to
a long-term care facility's drug rooms or to treatment rooms
occupied by a resident unless prior consent has been obtained
from the resident;
(2) Monitoring the development and implementation of
federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies with
respect to long-term care facilities;
(3) Training certified volunteers in accordance with the
training and certification program developed by the state long-
term care ombudsman program;
(4) Encouraging, cooperating with, and assisting the
development and operation of referral services which can provide
current, valid and reliable information on long-term care
facilities and alternatives to institutionalization to persons
in need of these services and the general public;
(5) Submitting reports as required by the state long-term
care ombudsman program; and
(6) Other duties as mandated by the Older Americans Act of
1965, as amended.
(d) The state long-term care ombudsman shall develop and
implement procedures for training and certification of regional
long-term care ombudsmen. Regional long-term care ombudsmen who
satisfactorily complete the training requirements shall be
certified by the state commission on aging and shall be given
identification cards which shall be presented to employees of a
long-term care facility upon request. No regional long-term
care ombudsman may investigate any complaint filed with the West
Virginia long-term care ombudsman program unless such person has
been certified by the state commission on aging. Consistent
with the provisions of this article and any rules and
regulations promulgated pursuant to section twenty-one,
certified regional
long-term ombudsmen shall be representatives of the state long-term
care ombudsman program.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to set forth the
education and training requirements for a regional long-term
care ombudsman and the supervising long-term care ombudsman.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.