[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 952 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 952

To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to establish a 
 minimum direct care registered nurse staffing requirement at nursing 
 facilities and skilled nursing facilities under Medicare and Medicaid 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 2015

 Ms. Schakowsky (for herself, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Rangel, Ms. Lofgren, 
Ms. Roybal-Allard, and Mr. Payne) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the 
   Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to establish a 
 minimum direct care registered nurse staffing requirement at nursing 
 facilities and skilled nursing facilities under Medicare and Medicaid 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Put a Registered Nurse in the 
Nursing Home Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF MINIMUM DIRECT CARE REGISTERED NURSE STAFFING 
              REQUIREMENT AT NURSING FACILITIES AND SKILLED NURSING 
              FACILITIES UNDER MEDICARE AND MEDICAID.

    (a) Medicare Skilled Nursing Facilities.--Section 1819(b)(4)(C) of 
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i-3(b)(4)(C)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i)--
                    (A) by striking ``Except as provided in clause 
                (ii), a'' and inserting ``A''; and
                    (B) by striking all that follows ``residents'' and 
                inserting a period; and
            (2) by striking clause (ii) and inserting the following:
                            ``(ii) Use of direct care registered 
                        nurse.--A skilled nursing facility must use the 
                        services of at least 1 registered professional 
                        nurse to provide assessment, surveillance, and 
                        direct care to residents 24 hours a day, 7 days 
                        a week. In the preceding sentence, the term 
                        `surveillance' means the purposeful and ongoing 
                        acquisition, interpretation, and synthesis of 
                        residents' data for clinical decisionmaking.''.
    (b) Medicaid Nursing Facilities.--Section 1919(b)(4)(C) of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396r(b)(4)(C)) is amended--
            (1) in the heading, by striking ``; facility waivers'';
            (2) in clause (i)--
                    (A) by striking ``With respect to'' and all that 
                follows through ``clause (ii), must provide'' and 
                inserting ``A nursing facility must provide''; and
                    (B) by striking all that follows ``residents'' and 
                inserting a period; and
            (3) by striking clauses (ii) and (iii) and inserting the 
        following:
                            ``(ii) Use of direct care registered 
                        nurse.--A nursing facility must use the 
                        services of at least 1 registered professional 
                        nurse to provide assessment, surveillance, and 
                        direct care to residents 24 hours a day, 7 days 
                        a week. In the preceding sentence, the term 
                        `surveillance' means the purposeful and ongoing 
                        acquisition, interpretation, and synthesis of 
                        residents' data for clinical decisionmaking.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to payments made for items and services furnished on 
or after the first day of the first calendar quarter beginning on or 
after the date that is 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
                                 <all>