(a) The Department of Human Services shall establish an assisted living program for adults, including those who meet the medical necessity determination for nursing facility care. However, such individuals cannot have conditions that require twenty-four-hour nursing.

(b)

(1) The department shall promulgate rules and regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this subchapter as it shall deem necessary or desirable to properly and efficiently carry out the purposes and intent of this subchapter.

(2) The regulations, including documentation, shall take into account the congregate nature of assisted living as opposed to individual settings, and the regulations shall include, but not be limited to:

(A) Fire, health, and life safety codes;

(B) Physical plant requirements, including space requirements for housing, toilet facilities, and related items;

(C) Staffing requirements; and

(D) Services requirements.

(c)

(1) No resident shall be permitted to remain in an assisted living facility if his or her condition requires twenty-four-hour nursing care or other services that an assisted living facility is not authorized by law to provide.

(2) This prohibition shall apply even if the resident is willing to enter into an agreement to relieve the facility of responsibility or otherwise manage the risk.

(d) Upon application, residential care facilities licensed or holding a permit of approval as of April 2, 2001, and subsequent purchasers shall be licensed as assisted living facilities, provided that:

(1) The facility shall provide a small refrigerator in each resident's room, except as otherwise provided by regulation;

(2) The facility shall provide a microwave oven in each resident's room, except as otherwise provided by regulation;

(3) The facility meets minimum space requirements for resident rooms of one hundred fifty square feet (150 sq. ft.) per person or two hundred thirty square feet (230 sq. ft.) for two (2) persons sharing a room, exclusive of entryway, closet, and bathroom, or one hundred square feet (100 sq. ft.) per person or one hundred eighty square feet (180 sq. ft.) for two (2) persons if the room has a half or full bath or if there is a shared bathroom between two (2) rooms;

(4) The application conforms to all other assisted living regulations, except as provided in this subchapter; and

(5) Before obtaining the assisted living license, the residential care facility has no more than two (2) Class A or Class B violations pursuant to § 20-10-205 within the previous six (6) months.

(e) Residential care facilities which choose to become assisted living facilities under subsection (d) of this section shall not be required to meet physical plant or other physical amenities requirements beyond those required for residential care facilities as of January 1, 2001, except as provided in subsection (d) of this section.

(f) Assisted living regulations promulgated by the department shall be reasonable and shall not have the effect of excluding residential care facilities from entering the program, provided they meet the requirements of this subchapter.

(g)

(1) The department shall take all actions necessary to develop a home- and community-based care waiver application in accordance with § 1915(c) of the Social Security Act.

(2) The waiver application shall seek federal financial participation to increase access to services in assisted living facilities by raising Medicaid income and resource limits to the maximum eligibility level of other home- and community-based waivers in effect.

(3) The waiver application shall seek permission to serve a minimum of one thousand (1,000) persons at a time and shall be submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services by June 30, 2001.

(4) The department's implementation of the waiver shall be reasonable and shall not have the effect of excluding residential care facilities which have become assisted living facilities under the provisions of this subchapter.

(h)

(1) Residential care facilities that choose not to become assisted living facilities will be permitted to continue participating in the Medicaid personal care program.

(2) If an assisted living facility has Medicaid residents who are not in the waiver program but could qualify for nonwaiver Medicaid services, then the facility shall be permitted to provide Medicaid personal care for those residents.

(i) Assisted living services may be provided directly or through contractual arrangement.