AN ACT relating to the reporting of deaths in nursing homes.
     Create a new section of KRS 216 to require each long term care facility or hospice facility to require a designated reporter to report all deaths to the appropriate coroner or medical examiner within 24 hours, in the case of a resident dying while away from the facility the report is required within 24 hours of the facility receiving notification of the death; require coroners or medical examiners to accept the report and, upon finding reasonable cause to suspect death as a result of maltreatment, to continue the investigation as a coroner's case, as a police report or as a report to the appropriate Commonwealth's attorney; amend KRS 216B.990 to create a Class C misdemeanor for the first offense when a designated reporter fails to report a death and a Class B misdemeanor for subsequent offenses; create a fine of $200 per week for long term care facilities that fail to designate an employee as the designated reporter; create a new section of KRS Chapter 431 to require the Attorney General to establish a Kentucky Multidisciplinary Commission on Adult Abuse and Neglect, require each investigation of a death in a nursing home to be conducted by a specialized multidisciplinary team, require local protocols to be developed in each county or by contiguous county groups specifying how state protocols are to be followed; amend KRS 216B.590 to require surveyors and investigators to undergo at least 2 hours of training surrounding evidence preservation following a death in a nursing home due to suspected abuse or neglect; create a new section of KRS chapter 216 to require each long term care facility to conduct a three hour Attorney General-approved training session every 2 years covering the prevention of adult abuse and neglect; amend KRS 209.990 to make failure to report the abuse or neglect of an adult a Class A misdemeanor.

     (Prefiled by the sponsor(s).)

     Jan 4-introduced in House; to Health & Welfare (H)