Provides relative to nursing home licenses. (8/1/26) (OR INCREASE GF EX See Note)

Senate Bill 190 enacts Louisiana Revised Statutes 40:2009.10.2 to establish state-level requirements that align with and supplement the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Special Focus Facility Program. The statute applies to any Louisiana-licensed nursing facility identified by CMS as a candidate for the program due to persistent poor performance involving immediate jeopardy deficiencies, abuse, actual harm, or potential for more than minimal harm to residents. Significantly, the enhanced state oversight obligations attach to facilities merely identified as candidates for the program, whether or not they are ultimately selected for federal participation. Facilities subject to this provision must implement eight specific state requirements including state-appointed monitoring, minimum quarterly unannounced inspections, directed plans of correction, root cause analyses, owner performance analyses, immediate staffing increases, mandatory quality improvement organization engagement, and directed in-service training. The statute creates a decisive enforcement mechanism by requiring the Louisiana Department of Health to revoke the license of any facility that fails to graduate from the program and meet the additional state requirements within eighteen months.

Nursing facility owners, operators, and administrators will experience substantially increased regulatory burden and operational costs through the enhanced oversight provisions. Current residents in affected facilities gain explicit rights to notification of the facility's program candidacy and the opportunity to transfer to alternative facilities that can safely accommodate their needs and provide appropriate services. Prospective residents receive notice of the facility's status before admission, enabling informed decision-making about whether to enter the facility. The Louisiana Department of Health gains expanded supervisory authority to appoint monitoring personnel, conduct unannounced inspections, direct corrective action plans, and ultimately revoke licenses. Residents receive direct protection through the requirement that facilities implement staff increases necessary to address deficiencies and engage with CMS-approved quality improvement organizations.

This statute operates within the existing regulatory framework of Louisiana health care facility licensing under Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes and interacts with the federal CMS regulatory structure governing Medicare and Medicaid participating facilities. The statute establishes Louisiana-imposed requirements that operate in addition to federal requirements rather than in substitution for them, creating a dual compliance framework. The eighteen-month timeline for achieving program graduation or facing license revocation establishes a definitive remediation period, and the prohibition on repeated program participation prevents indefinite cycles of poor performance. The provision allowing the Department of Health to revoke an owner's license and secure a replacement licensee while maintaining facility operations at the same location, or alternatively to close the facility and relocate residents, gives the state agency flexibility in protecting resident welfare while addressing systemic ownership or operational deficiencies.