Health Care in Regulated Facilities

Plain English Breakdown

The official metadata lists an effective date field but it is empty; the summary confirms enactment but does not specify when provisions take effect beyond the July and October 2027 deadlines.

Rules for Sharing Dementia Care Information

This law requires facilities that care for people with dementia to complete and share a form listing their specific services, staff training, safety rules, and resident placement policies.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Department of Public Health and Environment to design an information form by July 1, 2027.
• Mandates that facilities list details on extra staff training for dementia care beyond standard requirements.
• Requires facilities to explain their guidelines for using restraints.
• Asks facilities to describe security features and procedures for residents with dementia.
• Orders facilities to provide the form to anyone asking about services starting October 1, 2027.
• Requires facilities to publish the completed form on their website.
• Allows the department to issue citations if a facility does not keep the form available or produce it during an inspection.

Who It Names or Affects

• Licensed facilities that offer on-site or residential care for people with dementia
• The Department of Public Health and Environment
• Families or individuals seeking dementia care services

Terms To Know

Dementia Care Facility

A licensed place that provides on-site or residential services for people with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia conditions.

Restraints

Physical devices or methods used to limit a resident's movement, which the facility must explain in its guidelines.

Limits and Unknowns

• The law does not state an effective date for when these rules begin.
• Rules created by the department cannot go beyond existing national standards.
• Funding comes from a specific cash fund, but no new tax or budget amount is listed.

Official Summary Text

The act establishes information disclosure requirements for a licensed facility that offers on-site and residential services for individuals with dementia and dementia-related conditions, including Alzheimer's disease ('dementia care facility' or 'facility').
The act requires the department of public health and environment (department), in consultation with the state long-term care ombudsman or the ombudsman's designee, to create a dementia care services information form (form) by July 1, 2027. The form must include certain specified fields for the disclosure of information regarding a dementia care facility's dementia care services, including the facility's:
Dementia training requirements for staff that are in addition to statutory training requirements;
Guidelines for using restraints;
Security features and procedures for addressing the needs of residents with dementia; and
Criteria and processes to determine placement, transfer, or discharge of residents living with dementia.
The department may review and update the form to ensure that it facilitates the disclosure of the required information. After creating or updating the form, the department must provide the form to every dementia care facility in the state.
A dementia care facility must complete the form with responsive, accurate, and complete information regarding the facility's dementia care services. Beginning October 1, 2027, every dementia care facility shall:
Provide its completed form to every individual who contacts the facility seeking dementia care services;
Review and update the form when the facility's information changes to ensure the information on the form is current, complete, and correct;
Publish the facility's current completed form on the facility's website; and
Maintain on the facility's premises and have available for inspection a copy of the facility's current completed form, and produce the form upon request by the department during a survey or inspection of the facility.
The act requires the department to issue a citation to a facility that fails to maintain on its premises and have available for inspection its completed form or that fails to produce the form upon request by the department during a survey or inspection.
The department may adopt rules, as necessary, to implement the act's requirements concerning the form; except that the rules adopted by the department must not exceed applicable national standards. The department may use money from the assisted living residence improvement cash fund for the purposes of creating the form and adopting related rules.
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)