50-5-216. Limitation on care provided in adult foster care home. (1) Except as provided in this section, the types of care offered by adult foster care homes are limited to light personal care or custodial care and may not include skilled nursing care.

(2) An adult foster care home may be licensed to provide care for an adult receiving state-funded services through the developmental disabilities program of the department or for an adult who resided in the home before reaching 18 years of age, even though the adult is:

(a) in need of skilled nursing care;

(b) in need of medical, physical, or chemical restraint;

(c) nonambulatory or bedridden;

(d) incontinent to the extent that bowel or bladder control is absent; or

(e) unable to self-administer medications.

(3) An adult foster care home that applies for a license under subsection (2) shall provide the department with a copy of the statement required in subsection (4).

(4) A resident of an adult foster care home licensed under subsection (2) must have a certification in the form of a signed statement, renewed on an annual basis, from a physician, a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner, or a registered nurse, whose work is unrelated to the operation of the home and who has actually visited the home within the year covered by the statement and certifies that:

(a) the services available to the resident in the home or in the community, or services that may be brought into the home from the community, including nursing services or therapies, are appropriate for meeting the health care or other needs of the resident; and

(b) the health care status of the resident does not necessitate placing the resident in a more intensive residential service setting.

(5) As used in this section, "skilled nursing care" means 24-hour care supervised by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse under the orders of an attending physician.

History: En. Sec. 13, Ch. 366, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 133, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 24, Ch. 519, L. 2005.