Assisted Living and Nursing Homes are Governed by lots of Regulations.
Call Us: 650.625.7300 In California Assisted Living Facilities are licensed as Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE). RCFEs may also be known as retirement homes and Board and Care homes. The facilities can range in size from six beds or less to over 100 beds. There are over 7,500 licensed facilities in California but most are “Board and Care” with six or fewer beds. RCFE’s are classified as non medical and regulated by Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing. Since they are non medical don’t expect Medicare to pay. RCFE’s provide room, meals, and assistance with activities of daily living. but increasingly are dealing with residents with more compromised medical conditions who may use oxygen or are incontinent. Many of these facilities are only inspected every five years and abuse and serious neglect can go undetected. Staff qualifications are minimal (increasing at the start of 2016). The admissions agreement you will have to sign is a legal contract that screams “buyer beware.” Take it home and study it before you sign. Some items are negotiable and some items must be included by law. Know what is included in the base charge and what is extra.
All nursing homes in California must be licensed by the California Department of Public Health (DPH) and meet California nursing home standards. In addition to being licensed, nursing homes that choose to participate in the Medicare and Medi–Cal programs must be certified by the federal government in order to qualify for payments from these programs. Federally certified facilities must meet federal standards as well as the California requirements. Most California nursing homes are certified to participate in both Medicare and Medi–Cal.
Under federal nursing home regulations, nursing homes must:
Have sufficient nursing staff. (42 CFR §483.30)
Conduct initially a comprehensive and accurate assessment of each resident’s functional capacity. (42 CFR §483.20)
Develop a comprehensive care plan for each resident. (42 CFR §483.20)
Prevent the deterioration of a resident’s ability to bathe, dress, groom, transfer and ambulate, toilet, eat, and to communicate. (42 CFR §483.25)
Provide, if a resident is unable to carry out activities of daily living, the necessary services to maintain good nutrition, grooming, and personal oral hygiene. (42 CFR §483.25)
Ensure that residents receive proper treatment and assistive devices to maintain vision and hearing abilities. (42 CFR §483.25)
Ensure that residents do not develop pressure sores and, if a resident has pressure sores, provide the necessary treatment and services to promote healing, prevent infection, and prevent new sores from developing. (42 CFR §483.25)
Provide appropriate treatment and services to incontinent residents to restore as much normal bladder functioning as possible. (42 CFR §483.25)
Ensure that the resident receives adequate supervision and assistive devices to prevent accidents. (42 CFR §483.25)
Maintain acceptable parameters of nutritional status. (42 CFR §483.25)
Provide each resident with sufficient fluid intake to maintain proper hydration and health. (42 CFR §483.25)
Ensure that residents are free of any significant medication errors. (42 CFR §483.25)
Promote each resident’s quality of life. (42 CFR §483.15)
Maintain dignity and respect of each resident. (42 CFR §483.15)
Ensure that the resident has the right to choose activities, schedules, and health care. (42 CFR §483.40)
Provide pharmaceutical services to meet the needs of each resident. (42 CFR §483.60)
Be administered in a manner that enables it [the nursing home] to use its resources effectively and efficiently. (42 CFR §483.75)
Maintain accurate, complete, and easily accessible clinical records on each resident . (42 CFR §483.75)