HFA Rule Change Final Now in Effect

The Homes For the Aged (HFA) Administrative Rules were filed with the Great Seal for the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs – Bureau of Community and Health Systems on March 21, 2023, and are now in effect.

The major changes include incident reporting, medication management, new definitions and implementation of a quality review system.

Incident reporting: R 325.1924 “Reporting of incidents” was rewritten to include the creation of a new internal quality review program to which the reporting of incidents must be sent instead of reporting to the state licensing department. The rule language states that the incident must be reported to the quality review program on a department-approved form. HCAM is monitoring this as the form is not yet available.

Medication management: A subsection was removed that required a review process to evaluate a resident’s condition if a resident requires the prolonged use of as-needed medications. A subsection was removed that required a home to take reasonable precaution to assure that prescription medication is not used by another person. In addition, more detail and clarity were added to multiple subsections in R 325.1932 “Resident’s medications.”

New definitions: “Elopement” was redefined as a resident who has a service plan that requires notice or arranged supervision to leave the facility and is absent without notice or supervision. In addition, a definition was added for “Incident,” replacing the previous definition for “reportable incident/accident.” “Incident” is defined as an intentional or unintentional event including, but not limited to, elopements and medication errors, where a resident suffers physical or emotional harm.

Read the final rule language HERE. Questions, please email Jenny Post.