NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 925

SENATE BILL 559

 

 

AN ACT TO ALLOW NURSING HOME PATIENTS TO TAKE UP TO 18 DAYS LEAVE WITHOUT LOSING MEDICAID BENEFITS.

 

Whereas, a patient at a nursing home loses medical reimbursement if he or she leaves for a few days to visit family; and

Whereas, therapeutic leave is beneficial to the patient and family and may result in the patient being able to stay at home rather than returning to the nursing home if his or her condition has changed; and

Whereas, forty-four states already allow therapeutic leave; Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  The Department of Human Resources shall provide by regulation that a patient at an intermediate care facility or skilled nursing facility may take up to 18 days of therapeutic leave in any 12-month period without the facility losing reimbursement under Medicaid (Title XIX of the Social Security Act).

Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 8th day of June, 1979.