Scope Of Practice

(1) Policy Statement. The health, safety and welfare of nursing home residents in Tennessee depends upon the efficiency, fitness, competence and integrity of the administrators of those nursing homes. Licensure to practice nursing home administration confers upon each licensee the ultimate responsibility for the overall operation of any nursing home in which the licensee has assumed duties as an administrator. That responsibility, for purposes of nursing home administration licensure, is independent of any responsibility for facility licensure placed upon any governing body of a facility or any corporation, association or other entity or person which may own the facility. (a) A licensee’s responsibility extends to the acquisition of the authority necessary to assure that all equipment, supplies, personnel, structures and finances are available at all times and in such measures as to bring the facility into compliance with statutes and rules governing nursing home administrators, nursing home licensure and federal certification if participating in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. (b) It is only after exhaustion of all avenues available to an administrator to secure those items necessary for the prevention or correction of facility survey deficiencies that the administrator will be deemed to have met his licensure responsibilities. (2) Surveys, Complaint Investigations, and Inspections. All matters concerning governmental surveys, complaint investigations and inspections of any kind are the direct responsibility of the administrator employed at the facility. The responsibility for addressing those actions cannot be assumed by any unlicensed personnel or licensees who are not expressly employed as the administrator of the facility. (a) When an authorized signature is required on any federal, state or local governmental survey, investigation or inspection of any kind, those documents must be reviewed and signed by the administrator employed at the facility regardless of corporate or other ownership procedures or policies. (b) In the absence of a facility administrator’s signature, the signature of any person authorized by the owner of the facility does not absolve the administrator from responsibility for the condition in the facility which gave rise to the governmental action. Such signatures merely signify that the contents of the documents are true and any remedial action incorporated is authorized for timely implementation. (c) The failure of any facility administrator to sign governmental documents requiring authorized signatures when within reasonable capabilities of the administrator to do so may constitute grounds for discipline pursuant to T.C.A. § 63-16-108. Any unlicensed personnel who sign such documents not containing the facility administrator’s signature may be considered as practicing nursing home administration without a license and GENERAL RULES GOVERNING NURSING HOME ADMINISTRATORS CHAPTER 1020-01 consequently subject to Board jurisdiction pursuant to T.C.A. § 63-1-134 and rule 1020- 01-.15(3). (3) Use of Titles. Any person who possesses a valid, current and active license issued by the Board that has not been suspended or revoked has the right to use the title “Nursing Home Administrator” and/or the acronym “N.H.A.,” and to practice as a nursing home administrator as defined in T.C.A. § 63-16-101. Violation of this rule regarding use of titles shall subject the licensee to disciplinary action. Any person licensed by the Board must use the title and/or the acronym authorized by this rule in every advertisement he or she publishes. The failure to do so will constitute an omission of a material fact which makes the advertisement misleading and deceptive and subjects the nursing home administrator to disciplinary action pursuant to T.C.A. § 63-16-108(1), (2), and (3).