1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to health; creating an exception to the 
  1.3             nursing home moratorium; amending Minnesota Statutes 
  1.4             1994, section 144A.071, subdivision 3. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 144A.071, 
  1.7   subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
  1.8      Subd. 3.  [EXCEPTIONS AUTHORIZING AN INCREASE IN BEDS.] The 
  1.9   commissioner of health, in coordination with the commissioner of 
  1.10  human services, may approve the addition of a new certified bed 
  1.11  or the addition of a new licensed nursing home bed, under the 
  1.12  following conditions:  
  1.13     (a) to license or certify a new bed in place of one 
  1.14  decertified after July 1, 1993, as long as the number of 
  1.15  certified plus newly certified or recertified beds does not 
  1.16  exceed the number of beds licensed or certified on July 1, 1993, 
  1.17  or to address an extreme hardship situation, in a particular 
  1.18  county that, together with all contiguous Minnesota counties, 
  1.19  has fewer nursing home beds per 1,000 elderly than the number 
  1.20  that is ten percent higher than the national average of nursing 
  1.21  home beds per 1,000 elderly individuals.  For the purposes of 
  1.22  this section, the national average of nursing home beds shall be 
  1.23  the most recent figure that can be supplied by the federal 
  1.24  health care financing administration and the number of elderly 
  1.25  in the county or the nation shall be determined by the most 
  2.1   recent federal census or the most recent estimate of the state 
  2.2   demographer as of July 1, of each year of persons age 65 and 
  2.3   older, whichever is the most recent at the time of the request 
  2.4   for replacement.  An extreme hardship situation can only be 
  2.5   found after the county documents the existence of unmet medical 
  2.6   needs that cannot be addressed by any other alternatives; 
  2.7      (b) to certify or license new beds in a new facility that 
  2.8   is to be operated by the commissioner of veterans affairs or 
  2.9   when the costs of constructing and operating the new beds are to 
  2.10  be reimbursed by the commissioner of veterans affairs or the 
  2.11  United States Veterans Administration; ~~or~~ 
  2.12     (c) to license or certify beds in a facility that has been 
  2.13  involuntarily delicensed or decertified for participation in the 
  2.14  medical assistance program, provided that an application for 
  2.15  relicensure or recertification is submitted to the commissioner 
  2.16  within 120 days after delicensure or decertification; or 
  2.17     (d) to certify two existing beds in a facility with 66 
  2.18  licensed beds on January 1, 1994, that had an average occupancy 
  2.19  rate of 98 percent or higher in both calendar years 1992 and 
  2.20  1993, and which began construction of four attached assisted 
  2.21  living units in April 1993.