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House approves changes to health facilities oversight, tightening nursing home recertification schedule
Summary
The Tennessee House passed Senate Bill 882 (substituted for House Bill 1141) to require more frequent nursing home recertifications and pursue a federal CMS waiver to change survey procedures; bill passed overwhelmingly after brief floor remarks.
The Tennessee House approved Senate Bill 882, carried in the House as House Bill 1141, on third and final consideration, directing the Health Facilities Commission to require nursing home recertifications no more than 15 months apart and to seek a procedural flexibility (described on the floor as a block grant waiver) from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The bill passed on a voice/counted vote with a recorded tally of 91 ayes and 3 nays.
Sponsor remarks on the House floor summarized the bill’s main provisions: shorten the maximum interval between nursing-home recertifications to 15 months; authorize the Health Facilities Commission to pursue a CMS waiver to allow different survey processes; require periodic reporting on progress toward the waiver; and have three assisted-living organizations provide a list of qualified candidates for certain gubernatorial appointments. The sponsor named the three groups on the floor as the Tennessee Center for Assisted Living, Leading Aids, and Argenum.
The sponsor (Chairman Boyd) made the motion to substitute the House bill to conform to the Senate version and then moved passage on third reading. Committee amendment number 1 was filed and then withdrawn on the floor. There was no extended debate; the sponsor relayed the bill’s goals, then the House voted.
The House Clerk recorded the vote as 91 ayes, 3 nays; the Speaker declared the bill passed.
The bill as presented on the floor did not spell out an immediate effective date; the sponsor described reporting requirements on the progress of seeking a CMS waiver. No floor amendment was adopted that altered the 15‑month maximum recertification interval. The floor record contains no further detail on implementation timing or funding to perform additional surveys.
