STATEMENT TO
ASSEMBLY, No. 2628
with Assembly Floor Amendments
(Proposed By Assemblywoman VANDERVALK)
ADOPTED: FEBRUARY 20, 1997
These amendments require that a community residential facility, including, but not limited to, a rooming or boarding house operating under a Class C license, providing food, shelter and personal guidance, under such supervision as required, to persons who require assistance, temporarily or permanently, in order to live in the community, and who are primarily persons with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders or other forms of progressive dementia, shall be considered a health care facility subject to the provisions of the "Health Care Facilities Planning Act," P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1et seq.) and shall be required to obtain a license to operate as a health care facility that is appropriate to the needs of its residents, as determined by the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services.
The amendments replace the requirement that the community residential facility be licensed specifically as an assisted living residence with a more general requirement for licensure as a health care facility in order to allow for sufficient flexibility to meet the needs of persons with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders or other forms of progressive dementia, in a health care facility setting that is appropriate to the needs of such persons, given that a continuum of care is required for this population during the various stages of the disease.
The amendments also provide that the provisions of this bill would apply to any community residential facility housing persons with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders or other forms of progressive dementia, rather than only those housing up to 15 such persons.
Finally, the amendments expand the scope of the bill to cover community residential facilities for persons with other forms of progressive dementia (as defined by regulation of the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services) besides Alzheimer's disease and related disorders.