Assisted Living in Kansas

Agency: Department on Aging
Phone: (785) 296-1253
Website: www.agingkansas.org

An assisted living facility is a place caring for six or more individuals who may need personal care and/or supervised nursing care to compensate for limitations of activities of daily living (ADLs).

Facility Scope of Care:
Direct care staff may provide assistance with ADLs. Skilled nursing services are not prohibited; however, they generally must be limited, intermittent, or routine in scope. Wellness and health monitoring is required

Move-In/Move-Out Requirements:
Residents may be admitted if the facility can meet their needs. Residents will be discharged if their safety, health, or welfare is endangered. Residents with one or more of the following conditions shall not be admitted or retained, unless the negotiated service agreement includes services sufficient to meet the needs of the resident: unmanageable incontinence; immobility; total dependence with mobility to exit the building; a condition requiring a two-person transfer; ongoing skilled nursing intervention needed 24 hours per day; and unmanageable behavioral symptoms. The operator or administrator shall ensure that any resident whose clinical condition requires the use of physical restraints is not admitted or retained. Resident functional capacity screens are conducted before admission and annually after admission or upon significant change. The facility must give the resident a 30-day notice of transfer or discharge.

Resident Assessment:
On or before admission, a licensed nurse, licensed social worker, or the administrator or operator must conduct a functional capacity screen on each resident as specified by the Department on Aging. A facility may choose to integrate the specified screen in an instrument developed by the facility. A functional capacity screen must be conducted at least annually or following a significant change in the resident's physical, mental, or psychosocial functioning. A licensed nurse shall assess any resident whose functional capacity screening indicates the need for health care services.

Medication Management:
Facilities can manage their residents' medication or allow residents to engage in the self-administration of medication. Selfadministration of medication means the determination by a resident of when to take a medication or biological and how to apply, inject, inhale, ingest, or take a medication or biological by any other means, without assistance from nursing staff. A licensed nurse must perform an assessment and determine the resident can perform self-administration of medication safely. The assessment must include an evaluation of the resident's physical, cognitive, and functional ability to safely and accurately self-administer and manage medications independently. A licensed pharmacist shall conduct a medication regimen review for each resident whose medication is managed by the facility at least quarterly and each time the resident experiences any significant change. Residents who self-administer medications must be offered a medication review conducted by a licensed pharmacist at least quarterly and each time a resident experiences a significant change in condition.

Physical Plant Requirements:
Facilities consist of apartments that must contain a living area, storage area, full bath, kitchen, and lockable door. If the facility is a designated Residential Health Care Facility, the living area is not required to have a kitchen.

Residents Allowed Per Room:
None specified.

Life Safety:
Any facility licensing as a Residential Health Care or Assisted Living Facility must submit a code footprint from a licensed architect/engineer for approval of buildings to be occupied. The code footprint must comply with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Life Safety Code 101, 2006 edition (new chapter) and must be approved before occupancy is allowed. Some of the more costly items for a new facility are sprinklering the entire facility, a full fire alarm system, and smoke detection in the sleeping rooms. There must be proper exiting throughout. All plans reviewed will be subject to a full inspection. Facilities licensed before February 2011 are expected to meet the existing chapter of the NFPA Life Safety Code 101, 2006 edition. The Kansas State Fire Marshal's office conducts an annual inspection of any facility that is licensed.

Alzheimer's Unit Requirements:
In facilities that admit residents with dementia, in-service education on treatment of behavioral symptoms must be provided. Direct care staff must be present in the special care section at all times.

Staff Training for Alzheimer's Care:
Before assignment to the special care section or facility, each staff member must be provided with a training program related to the specific needs of the residents to be served and evidence of completion of the training is to be maintained in the employee's personnel records.

Staffing Requirements:
A full-time operator (not required to be a licensed administrator if less than 61 residents are in the facility) must be employed by the facility and sufficient numbers of qualified personnel are required to ensure that residents receive services and care in accordance with negotiated service agreements.

Staff Education Training:
Orientation is required for all new employees and regular inservice education regarding the principles of assisted living is required for all employees. All staff must have training pertaining to abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and in disaster and emergency preparedness.

Medicaid Policy and Reimbursements:
A Medicaid home and community-based services waiver covers services in assisted living facilities that are enrolled as providers and only for residents who meet nursing home level-of-care criteria. Payment for services is based on a resident plan of care.