§ 23-17-12 - Inspections – Nursing facilities.
SECTION 23-17-12
§ 23-17-12 Inspections – Nursingfacilities. – (a) The licensing agency shall make or cause to be made unannounced inspectionsand investigations of nursing facilities. The director shall establish byregulation criteria to determine the frequency for unannounced inspections andinvestigation that shall include specific criteria to determine the appropriatefrequency of those surveys including, but not limited to, patient acuity,quality indicators, staff retention, financial status, and a facility's pastcompliance with the regulations. In no instance shall any facility with apattern of noncompliance with regulations or orders, indications of marginalfinancial status, repeated levels of nursing hours per resident significantlybelow the state average, or other risk factors determined to influence quality,receive less than two (2) surveys in addition to the annual licensing surveyrequired by this chapter. Any nursing care facility which is cited forsubstandard care by the licensing agency shall be inspected on a bimonthlybasis for the twelve (12) month period immediately following any citation. Thelicensing agency shall, on an annual basis, cause no less than ten percent(10%) of all nursing care facility annual surveys to be conducted, in whole orin part, on nights and/or on weekends. The inspections shall be conducted bothas to profit and nonprofit facilities and the results shall be open to publicinspection; however, requirements as to the fire safety code will be deferredin accordance with § 23-28.1-7.
(b) No employee or agent of the department shall beparticipating in or supervising an inspection of any facility to which thatemployee currently has, or in the past five (5) years has had, any ownership,employment, or consultant arrangement or any other potential conflicts ofinterest. The restrictions imposed under this subsection shall be in additionto, and not in place of, the requirements of chapter 14 of title 36.
(c) The licensing agency shall make or cause to be madeunannounced inspections and/or investigations of any establishment, facility,boarding house, dormitory, however named, to determine whether the lodgingfacility should be licensed and regulated under the provisions of this chapter.
(d) All members of the general assembly and any generalofficer of this state may make announced and unannounced inspections ofextended care facilities, skilled nursing homes, intermediate care facilities,personal care homes, nursing homes, and state institutions.