GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

S	1 

SENATE BILL 1185*

Short Title:  Rest Home Moratorium.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Walker; Seymour and Bryan.
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Referred to:  Human Resources.
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June 3, 1992

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO CREATE A MORATORIUM ON THE INITIAL LICENSURE OF REST HOMES.
Whereas, "the orderly development of homes for the aged and disabled will result in less institutionalization of the elderly and thus lower public expenditures".  (Findings of fact, Chapter 1282 of the 1981 Session Laws, 1982 Session, which established a moratorium on the initial licensure of specified long-term care facilities for seven months); and
Whereas, as was observed in the 1990 Peat-Marwick Report, commissioned by the Department of Human Resources to analyze cost reporting and reimbursement methodology for domiciliary care facilities:  "Of all the many factors discussed …, we believe the most important is for North Carolina to decide what it wants to accomplish in a reimbursement system."; and
Whereas, as stated in her "Initial Report on North Carolina Domiciliary Care Policy,”the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Public Health doctoral candidate, Elisa Bolda, concurs with the Peat-Marwick conclusion that one of the central questions facing the State is the purpose of domiciliary care in North Carolina; and
Whereas, as the Bolda Report concludes, geographic distribution of domiciliary home beds in North Carolina is uneven at best, as counties range from no beds to more than 50 Homes for the Aged and Family Care Homes beds per thousand county residents age 65 or older; and
Whereas, as the Bolda Report further concludes, "[a]nalysis of domiciliary care bed supply indicates a 78% increase in domiciliary care beds … supply during the past 10 years"; and
Whereas, the "Annual Cost and Revenue Report for Domiciliary Care Facilities", as issued by the Division of Facilities Services, Department of Human Resources, based on reporting by the Division of Social Services, of the percent of occupancy of paid patient days, establishes the occupancy rate for the 1991 calendar year at 86.18%; and
Whereas, because domiciliary care is not acknowledged by the State to exist in the North Carolina State Medical Facilities Plan, North Carolina has no methodology for projections of need for new homes; and
Whereas, absent a State plan for domiciliary care, and consistently applied methodology and State control, it is impossible to project accurate need, or exact projections for reimbursement and cost; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Department of Human Resources shall not accept applications received after July 1, 1992, or before July 1, 1994, for initial licensure of:
(1)	Any family care home, group home for developmentally disabled adults, or home for the aged or disabled as licensed pursuant to the provisions of Article 1 of Chapter 131D of the General Statutes; or
(2)	Any domiciliary home licensed pursuant to the provisions of Article 6 of Chapter 131E of the General Statutes.
Sec. 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1992.