(a) The Department of Public Health shall, after consultation with the appropriate public and voluntary hospital planning agencies, establish classifications of institutions. The department shall, in the Public Health Code, adopt, amend, promulgate and enforce such regulations based upon reasonable standards of health, safety and comfort of patients and demonstrable need for such institutions, with respect to each classification of institutions to be licensed under sections 19a-490 to 19a-503, inclusive, including their special facilities, as will further the accomplishment of the purposes of said sections in promoting safe, humane and adequate care and treatment of individuals in institutions. The department shall adopt such regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, concerning home health care agencies and home health aide agencies.

Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 19a-495

  • Clinical laboratory: means any facility or other area used for microbiological, serological, chemical, hematological, immunohematological, biophysical, cytological, pathological or other examinations of human body fluids, secretions, excretions or excised or exfoliated tissues for the purpose of providing information for the (1) diagnosis, prevention or treatment of any human disease or impairment, (2) assessment of human health, or (3) assessment of the presence of drugs, poisons or other toxicological substances. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-490
  • Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Public Health or the commissioner's designee. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-490
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Hospital: means an establishment for the lodging, care and treatment of persons suffering from disease or other abnormal physical or mental conditions and includes inpatient psychiatric services in general hospitals. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-490
  • Institution: means a hospital, short-term hospital special hospice, hospice inpatient facility, residential care home, nursing home facility, home health care agency, home health aide agency, behavioral health facility, assisted living services agency, substance abuse treatment facility, outpatient surgical facility, outpatient clinic, clinical laboratory, an infirmary operated by an educational institution for the care of students enrolled in, and faculty and employees of, such institution. See Connecticut General Statutes 19a-490

(b) The Department of Public Health, with the advice of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, shall include in the regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, additional standards for community residences, as defined in § 19a-507a, which shall include, but not be limited to, standards for: (1) Safety, maintenance and administration; (2) protection of human rights; (3) staffing requirements; (4) administration of medication; (5) program goals and objectives; (6) services to be offered; and (7) population to be served.

(c) The commissioner may waive any provisions of the regulations affecting an institution or a clinical laboratory, licensed pursuant to § 19a-30, if the commissioner determines that such waiver would not endanger the health, safety or welfare of any patient or resident. The commissioner may impose conditions, upon granting the waiver, that assure the health, safety and welfare of patients or residents, and may revoke the waiver upon a finding that the health, safety or welfare of any patient or resident has been jeopardized. The commissioner shall not grant a waiver that would result in a violation of the Fire Safety Code or State Building Code. The commissioner may adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, establishing procedures for an application for a waiver pursuant to this subsection.

(d) The Commissioner of Public Health, in consultation with the Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services, may implement policies and procedures, in compliance with federal law, permitting licensed health care providers with prescriptive authority to prescribe medications to treat persons dependent on opiates in freestanding substance abuse treatment facilities, licensed under § 19a-490, while in the process of adopting such policies and procedures in regulation form, provided the commissioner prints notice of the intent to adopt regulations in the Connecticut Law Journal not later than thirty days after the date of implementation of such policies and procedures. Policies and procedures implemented pursuant to this subsection shall be valid until the time final regulations are adopted.