Relating to human services; providing a medical assistance (MA) rate increase for nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for persons with mental retardation or related conditions (ICF/MR) and certain home and community based waivered services providers, requiring use to increase wages and benefits for certain employees and to increase the number of staff, specifying certain facility or provider application and funds distribution plan requirements; establishing a nursing facility bed closure incentive under medical assistance, specifying certain application and commissioner of human services rate adjustment requirements, prohibiting the discharge of residents and specifying certain reporting requirements, requiring transfer of a certain portion of the appropriation for nursing homes to the alternative care program after a certain date under certain bed removal conditions, excluding certain boarding care homes from the incentive; eliminating the authority of nursing facilities to charge private paying residents a higher rate for private rooms than charged to medical assistance; limiting the expansion of certain waiver programs; requiring the commissioner to report to the legislature by certain dates on the number of beds removed from service under the incentive, evidence of problems accessing long term care services and recommendations for modification of the incentive
(mk)