Bills and resolutions approved during the 1999 General Assembly directed the Joint Commission Health Care to study a number of long-term care related issues. These included several long-term care licensure and certification issues, which are addressed in this report. Senate Bill 1172 directed the Joint Commission on Health Care to examine the Commonwealth's nursing home licensure regulations to determine: (i) means for making such regulations more outcome oriented and focused on continuous quality improvement, (ii) opportunities for gathering additional resident and family input as part of the licensure process for nursing homes, (iii) the advisability of accepting national accreditation as evidence of compliance with state licensure standards, and (iv) other states' laws regarding deemed status for state licensure of nursing homes. Senate Bill 1172 also directed the Joint Commission on Health Care, in cooperation with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, to examine the concept of centers of excellence with regard to long-term care reimbursement, specialized care programs, best management practices, and other issues as appropriate.

Senate Bill 1173 directed the Joint Commission on Health Care, in cooperation with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, to examine options for making adult care resident regulations more outcome oriented, (ii) means for making such regulations more focused on obtaining resident arid family input, and (iii) the advisability of deemed status for nationally accredited adult care residences.

House Joint Resolution (HJR) 527 directed the Joint Commission on Health Care to examine staffing requirements for nursing home facilities and adult care residences to ensure adequate levels of care and adequate enforcement of these standards. HJR 527 also directed the Joint Commission to determine whether staffing requirements currently in effect in the Commonwealth adequately protect the health, safety and welfare of nursing home and adult care residents and the adequacy of the enforcement of such staffing guidelines.