Committee reviews bill to require quality assurance and post investigation results at licensed residential facilities

Grant Bossi, deputy chief of staff for the New Hampshire Senate, introduced Senate Bill 37 on behalf of Senator Berle and said the bill is a department request. The sponsor and department witnesses described multiple changes: making quality assurance committees mandatory for licensed residential-care facilities, expanding DHHS investigatory authority, and requiring posting of investigation and life-safety survey results.

Kelly Keith, licensing unit chief for the Bureau of Licensing and Certification at DHHS, said the department supports the bill and described its aim as improving patient safety through transparency. "The intent of this bill is to ensure patient safety and well-being by requiring transparency of health care facilities to improve patient care and outcomes and reduce adverse events," Keith said.

Witnesses and advocates, including Judith Jones of New Futures and Susan Buxton, state long-term care ombudsman, supported the change. Buxton said complaint and life-safety inspection results are currently confidential for assisted-living facilities and that making founded complaints public would help families selecting care and aid resolution of problems. "This is a public safety concern," Buxton said, adding that vulnerable adults and their caregivers should have access to inspection results.

Committee members asked DHHS whether the change would cover nursing homes, mental-health and substance-use residential programs, and how the department would guard against unfounded complaints being posted. DHHS staff said the change would cover all 24 licensed categories under RSA 151, including nursing homes and substance-use treatment facilities, and that only founded complaints and inspection results would be posted.

The department said it had made a technical correction at the request of the New Hampshire Hospital Association and that Senator Pearl added a floor amendment in the Senate; the Senate approved the bill on a voice vote. No formal committee action was recorded at the public hearing; the committee closed the hearing after testimony.

Why it matters: the bill extends required transparency for complaint and life-safety investigations to more licensed facility types and would make investigation results public, aligning assisted-living disclosures more closely with nursing-home federal reporting practices and addressing advocates' calls for greater consumer information.