Care facilities.

Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services licenses and regulates community care facilities, residential care facilities for persons with chronic life-threatening illness, residential care facilities for the elderly, and child day care facilities. Existing law requires the department to conduct an annual unannounced visit to a care facility if any of various specified conditions are met. Existing law also requires the department to inspect community care facilities, residential care facilities for persons with chronic life-threatening illness, and residential care facilities for the elderly within 90 days after a facility accepts its first client for placement. This bill would require the department to conduct an unannounced inspection of a care facility using prescribed inspection protocols at least once each year and as often as necessary to ensure the quality of care provided, except for family day care centers which the department would be required to inspect using prescribed inspection protocols, at minimum, once every 2 years and as often as necessary to ensure the quality of care provided. This bill would also require the department to convene a specified workgroup to review the implementation of the annual inspection protocols, as prescribed, and would require the department to include certain information about the annual inspection protocols in the department's annual report to the relevant Senate and Assembly budget subcommittees. This bill would also eliminate the requirement for residential care facilities for persons with chronic life-threatening illness that the department inspect the facility within 90 days after it accepts its first client for placement. This bill would, for residential care facilities for the elderly, require the department to make its first annual unannounced inspection within 90 days after the facility accepts its first resident for placement. Under existing law, to obtain a license for a residential care facility for the elderly or a day care center, a prelicensure survey or site visit and a finding that the facility is in compliance with licensing standards is required. This bill would authorize the department to exercise its discretion and elect not to conduct the visit after the receipt of all appropriate licensing application materials when an operating residential care facility for the elderly or day care center licensee sells or transfers the property or business to a new license applicant and the department determines that there will be no material change in the management or operations of the facility.