50-5-216. Limitation on care provided in adult foster care home. (1) Except as provided in this section, the types of care offered by adult foster care homes are limited to light personal care or custodial care and may not include skilled nursing care.
     (2) An adult foster care home may be licensed to provide care for an adult who resided in the home for at least 1 year before reaching 18 years of age, even though the adult is:
     (a) in need of skilled nursing care;
     (b) in need of medical, physical, or chemical restraint;
     (c) nonambulatory or bedridden;
     (d) incontinent to the extent that bowel or bladder control is absent; or
     (e) unable to self-administer medications.
     (3) An adult foster care home that applies for a license under subsection (2) must have a signed statement from a physician agreeing that the care needed by the adult may be provided in the home.
     (4) A resident of an adult foster care home licensed under subsection (2) must have a signed statement, renewed on an annual basis, from a physician, a physician assistant-certified, a nurse practitioner, or a registered nurse, whose work is unrelated to the operation of the home and who:
     (a) actually visited the home within the year covered by the statement;
     (b) has certified that the particular needs of the resident can be adequately met in the home; and
     (c) has certified that there has been no significant change in health care status that would require another level of care.
     (5) As used in this section, "skilled nursing care" means 24-hour care supervised by a registered nurse or a licensed practical nurse under the orders of an attending physician.

     History: En. Sec. 13, Ch. 366, L. 1995.