uniform standards for skilled nursing facilities under medicare and medicaid

uniform standards for skilled nursing facilities under medicare and medicaid Sec. 246. (a) Section 1902(a) (28) of the Social Security Act is amended to read as follows: “(28) provide that any skilled nursing facility receiving payments under such plan must satisfy all of the requirements contained in section 1861(f), except, that the exclusion contained therein with respect to institutions which are primarily for the care and treatment of mental diseases and tuberculosis shall not apply for purposes of this title;” (b) Section 1861(j) of such Act, as amended by section 234(d) of this Act, is further amended— (1) by striking out “and” at the end of paragraph (10); (2) by redesignating paragraph (11) as paragraph (15); (3) by inserting after paragraph (10) the following new paragraphs: “(11) supplies full and complete information to the Secretary or his delegate as to the identity (A) of each person who has any direct or indirect ownership interest of 10 per centum or more in such skilled nursing facility or who is the owner (in whole or in part) of any mortgage, deed of trust, note, or other obligation secured (in whole or in part) by such skilled nursing facility or any of the property or assets of such skilled nursing facility, (B) in case a skilled nursing facility is organized as a corporation, of each officer and director of the corporation, and (C) in case a skilled nursing facility is organized as a partnership, of each partner; and promptly reports any changes which would affect the current accuracy of the information so required to be supplied; 86 Stat. 1425 “(12) cooperates in an effective program which provides for a regular program of independent medical evaluation and audit of the patients in the facility to the extent required by the programs in which the facility participates (including medical evaluation of each patient’s need for skilled nursing facility care); “(13) meets such provisions of the Life Safety Code of the National Fire Protection Association (21st edition, 1967) as are applicable to nursing homes; except that the Secretary may waive, for such periods as he deems appropriate, specific provisions of such Code which if rigidly applied would result in unreasonable hardship upon a nursing home, but only if such waiver will not adversely affect the health and safety or the patients; except that the provisions of such Code shall not apply in any State if the Secretary finds that in such State there is in effect a fire and safety code, imposed by State law, which adequately protects patients in nursing facilities; and” and (4) by adding at the end of paragraph (15) (as redesignated by paragraph (2) of this subsection) the following new sentence: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all information concerning skilled nursing facilities required by this subsection to be filed with the Secretary shall be made available to Federal or State employees for purposes consistent with the effective administration of programs established under titles XVIII and XIX of this Act.” (c) The amendments made by this section shall be effective July 1, 1973.