CO Code § 25-1-120 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 25 - Public Health and Environment|Article 1 - Administration|Part 1 - Department of Public Health Andenvironment|§ 25-1-120. Nursing Facilities - Rights of Patients

  The department shall require all skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities to adopt and make public a statement of the rights and responsibilities of the patients who are receiving treatment in such facilities and to treat their patients in accordance with the provisions of said statement. The statement shall ensure each patient the following:   The right to civil and religious liberties, including knowledge of available choices and the right to independent personal decisions, which will not be infringed upon, and the right to encouragement and assistance from the staff of the facility in the fullest possible exercise of these rights;    The right to have private and unrestricted communications with any person of his choice;    The right to present grievances on behalf of himself or others to the facility's staff or administrator, to governmental officials, or to any other person, without fear of reprisal, and to join with other patients or individuals within or outside of the facility to work for improvements in patient care;    The right to manage his own financial affairs or to have a quarterly accounting of any financial transactions made in his behalf, should he delegate such responsibility to the facility for any period of time;    The right to be fully informed, in writing, prior to or at the time of admission and during his stay, of services available in the facility and of related charges, including charges for services not covered under medicare or medicaid or not covered by the basic per diem rate;    The right to be adequately informed of his medical condition and proposed treatment, unless otherwise indicated by his physician, and to participate in the planning of all medical treatment, including the right to refuse medication and treatment, unless otherwise indicated by his physician, and to know the consequences of such actions;    The right to receive adequate and appropriate health care consistent with established and recognized practice standards within the community and with skilled and intermediate nursing care facility rules and regulations as promulgated by the department;    The right to have privacy in treatment and in caring for personal needs, confidentiality in the treatment of personal and medical records, and security in storing and using personal possessions;    The right to be treated courteously, fairly, and with the fullest measure of dignity and to receive a written statement of the services provided by the facility, including those required to be offered on an as-needed basis;    The right to be free from mental and physical abuse and from physical and chemical restraints, except those restraints initiated through the judgment of the professional staff for a specified and limited period of time or on the written authorization of a physician;    The right to be transferred or discharged only for medical reasons or his welfare, or that of other patients, or for nonpayment for his stay and the right to be given reasonable advance notice of any transfer or discharge, except in the case of an emergency as determined by the professional staff;    The right to devolution of his or her rights and responsibilities upon a sponsor, guardian, or person exercising rights contained in a designated beneficiary agreement executed pursuant to article 22 of title 15, C.R.S., who shall see that he or she is provided with adequate, appropriate, and respectful medical treatment and care and all rights which he or she is capable of exercising should he or she be determined to be incompetent pursuant to law and not be restored to legal capacity;    The right to freedom of choice in selecting a health-care facility;    The right to copies of the facility's rules and regulations and an explanation of his responsibility to obey all reasonable rules and regulations of the facility and to respect the personal rights and private property of the other patients. (1.5) If a facility requires a lease agreement with a provision requiring in excess of a month-to-month tenancy and the lease agreement results in or requires forfeiture of more than thirty days of rent if a patient moves due to a medical condition or dies during the term of the lease agreement, then the lease agreement shall be deemed to be against public policy and shall be void; except that inclusion of such a provision shall not render the remainder of the contract or lease agreement void. A contract provision or lease agreement that requires forfeiture of rent for thirty days after the patient moves due to a medical condition or dies does not violate this section. The provisions regarding forfeiture of rent shall appear on the front page of the contract or lease agreement and shall be printed in no less than twelve-point bold-faced type. The provisions shall read as follows:       Each skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility shall provide a copy of the statement required by subsection (1) of this section to each patient or his guardian at or before the patient's admission to a facility and to each staff member of a facility. Each such facility shall prepare a written plan and provide appropriate staff training to implement the provisions of this section.    Each skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility shall prepare a written plan and provide appropriate facilities to ensure that the rights guaranteed by subsection (1) of this section are enforced by a grievance procedure which contains the following procedures and rights:   A resident of any facility, the residents' advisory council, or the sibling, child, spouse, parent, or person exercising rights contained in a designated beneficiary agreement executed pursuant to article 22 of title 15, C.R.S., of any resident may formally complain in the manner described in this subsection (3) about any conditions, treatment, or violations of his or her rights by the facility or its staff or about any treatment, conditions, or violations of the rights of any other resident, regardless of the consent of the victim of the alleged improper treatment, condition, or violation of rights by the facility or its staff.    Each facility shall designate one full-time staff member, referred to in this subsection (3) as the “designee”, to receive all grievances when they are first made.    Each facility shall establish a grievance committee consisting of the chief administrator of the facility or his designee, a resident selected by the resident population of the facility, and a third person to be agreed upon by the administrator and the resident representative.    If anyone designated in paragraph (a) of this subsection (3) wishes to complain about treatment, conditions, or violations of rights, he shall write or cause to be written his grievance or shall state it orally to the designee no later than fourteen days after the occurrence giving rise to the grievance. The designee shall confer with persons involved in the occurrence and with any other witnesses and, no later than three days after the grievance, give a written explanation of findings and proposed remedies, if any, to the complainant and to the aggrieved party, if someone other than the complainant. Where appropriate because of the mental or physical condition of the complainant or the aggrieved party, the written explanation shall be accompanied by an oral explanation.    If the complainant or aggrieved party is dissatisfied with the findings and remedies or the implementation thereof, he may then make the same grievance orally or in writing, with any additional comments or information, to the grievance committee no later than ten days after the receipt of the explanation from the designee. Said committee shall confer with persons involved in the occurrence and with any other witnesses and, no later than ten days after the appeal from the designee, give a written explanation of its findings and proposed remedies, if any, to the complainant and to the aggrieved party, if someone other than the complainant. Where appropriate because of the mental or physical condition of the complainant or the aggrieved party, the written explanation shall be accompanied by an oral explanation.       Each skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility shall also establish a residents' advisory council which shall consist of not less than five members selected by and from the resident population of the facility. The council shall meet at least once a month with the administrator of the facility and a representative of the staff to make recommendations concerning policies of the facility. The council may also present grievances to the grievance committee on behalf of a resident.    If a complainant or aggrieved party is dissatisfied with the findings and remedies of the grievance committee or implementation thereof, except for grievances against a physician or his prescribed treatment, he may file the same grievance in writing with the executive director of the department. The department shall investigate the facts and circumstances of the grievance and make findings of fact, conclusions, and recommendations, copies of which shall be transmitted to the complainant and the nursing home administrator. If the complainant or the nursing home administrator is aggrieved by the findings and the recommendations of the department, the aggrieved party may request a hearing to be conducted by the department pursuant to section 24-4-105, C.R.S. The board shall adopt rules and regulations to carry out the intent of this section.    Implementation of this section shall be pursuant to section 25.5-6-204, C.R.S.    Nothing in this section shall apply to any nursing institution conducted by or for the adherents of any well-recognized church or religious denomination for the purpose of providing facilities for the care and treatment of the sick who depend exclusively upon spiritual means through prayer for healing in the practice of the religion of such church or denomination.      A patient who is eligible to receive medicaid benefits pursuant to articles 4, 5, and 6 of title 25.5, C.R.S., and who qualifies for nursing facility care shall have the right to select any nursing care facility recommended for certification by the department of public health and environment under Title XIX of the federal “Social Security Act”, as amended, as a provider of medicaid services and licensed by the department pursuant to article 3 of this title where space is available, and the department of health care policy and financing shall reimburse the selected facility for services pursuant to section 25.5-6-204, C.R.S., unless such nursing care facility shall have been notified by the department of health care policy and financing that it may not qualify as a provider of medicaid services.    A patient who is residing in such nursing care facility shall be assured the resident rights which are provided by section 4211 of Title IV of the federal “Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987”, as amended, Pub.L. 100-203. Failure to protect and promote those rights shall subject the violating facility to sanctions imposed by the department.       A patient who is eligible to receive benefits from a skilled or intermediate nursing care facility certified by the department under Title XVIII of the federal “Social Security Act”, as amended, as a provider of medicare services shall be assured the same rights as provided in paragraph   of subsection (8) of this section.        This lease agreement is for a month-to-month tenancy. The lessor shall not require the forfeiture of rent beyond a thirty-day period if the lessee moves due to a medical condition or dies during the term of the lease.   In circumstances in which the patient moves due to a medical condition or dies during the term of a contract or lease agreement, the facility shall return that part of the rent paid in excess of thirty days' rent after a patient moves or dies to the patient or the patient's estate. The facility may assess daily rental charges for any days in which the former or deceased patient's personal possessions remain in the patient's room after the period for which the patient has paid rent and for the usual time to clean the room after the patient's personal possessions have been removed. The facility shall have forty-five days after the date the patient's personal possessions have been removed from the patient's room to reconcile the patient's accounts and to return any moneys owed. This subsection (1.5) applies to any facility, or a distinct part of a facility, that meets the state nursing home licensing standards set forth in section 25-1.5-103 (1)(a)(I) and the licensing requirements specified in section 25-3-101 . For purposes of this section, “daily rental charges” means an amount not to exceed one-thirtieth of thirty days' rental amount plus reasonable expenses.    History. Source: L. 75: Entire section added, p. 873, § 1, effective July 1. L. 76: (8) added, p. 640, § 1, effective May 26. L. 89: (3)(a) and (8) amended and (9) added, p. 1144, § 1, effective April 4. L. 91: (6) and (8)(a) amended, p. 1856, § 13, effective April 11. L. 94: (8)(a) amended, p. 2624, § 42, effective July 1. L. 2006: (6) and (8)(a) amended, p. 2012, § 81, effective July 1; (1.5) added, p. 253, § 1, effective January 1, 2007. L. 2009: (1)(l) and (3)(a) amended,(HB 09-1260), ch. 107, p. 448, § 18, effective July 1.    Cross references:   For the legislative declaration contained in the 1994 act amending subsection (8)(a), see section 1 of chapter 345, Session Laws of Colorado 1994.   ANNOTATION   Law reviews. For article, “Advocating for Quality Nursing Home Care and Sufficient Staffing in Colorado”, see 34 Colo. Law. 31 (Oct. 2005). For article, “Involuntary Discharge From Nursing Homes”, see 34 Colo. Law. 37 (Oct. 2005).   Substantive and due process rights of nursing home patients are established by this section. Macleod v. Miller, 44 Colo. App. 313, 612 P.2d 1158 (1980).   Burden is on nursing facility to show that the transfer is in accordance with subsections (1)(k) and (8). Macleod v. Miller, 44 Colo. App. 313, 612 P.2d 1158 (1980).