| (a) The Texas Health and Human Services Commission
(HHSC) may impose a sanction listed in §555.57 of this subchapter
(relating to Schedule of Sanctions) against a licensee for violations
of the following nursing facility administrator (NFA) Standards of
Conduct:
(1) A licensee must employ sufficient staff to adequately
meet the needs of nursing facility residents as determined by care
outcomes.
(2) A licensee must ensure that sufficient resources
are present to provide adequate nutrition, medications, and treatments
to nursing facility residents in accordance with physician orders
as determined by care outcomes.
(3) A licensee must promote and protect the rights
of nursing facility residents and ensure that employees, contractors,
and others respect the rights of residents.
(4) A licensee must ensure that nursing facility residents
remain free of chemical and physical restraints unless required by
a physician's order to protect a nursing facility resident's health
and safety.
(5) A licensee must report and direct nursing facility
staff to report to the appropriate government agency any suspected
case of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation of resident property as
defined in §555.2 of this chapter (relating to Definitions).
(6) A licensee must ensure that the nursing facility
is physically maintained in a manner that protects the health and
safety of the residents and the public.
(7) A licensee must notify and direct employees to
notify an appropriate government agency of any suspected cases of
criminal activity as defined by state and federal laws.
(8) A licensee must post in the nursing facility where
the licensee is employed the notice provided by HHSC that gives the
address and telephone number for reporting complaints against an NFA.
The notice must be posted in a conspicuous place and in clearly legible
type.
(9) A licensee must not knowingly or through negligence
commit, direct, or allow actions that result or could result in inadequate
care, harm, or injury to a nursing facility resident.
(10) A licensee must not knowingly or through negligence
allow a nursing facility employee to harm a nursing facility resident
by coercion, threat, intimidation, solicitation, harassment, theft
of personal property, or cruelty.
(11) A licensee must not knowingly or through negligence
allow or direct an employee to contradict or alter in any manner the
orders of a physician regarding a nursing facility resident's medical
or therapeutic care.
(12) A licensee must not knowingly commit or through
negligence allow another individual to commit an act of abuse, neglect,
or misappropriation of resident property as defined in §555.2
of this chapter.
(13) A licensee must not permit another individual
to use his or her license or allow a nursing facility to falsely post
his or her license.
(14) A licensee must not advertise or knowingly participate
in the advertisement of nursing facility services in a manner that
is fraudulent, false, deceptive, or misleading in form or content.
(15) A licensee must not knowingly allow, aid, or abet
a violation by another NFA of the Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter
242, Subchapter I (text of Subchapter I effective until federal determination
of failure to comply with federal regulations), or the agency's rules
adopted under that subchapter and must report such violations to HHSC.
(16) A licensee must not make or knowingly allow an
employee, contractor, or volunteer to make misrepresentations or fraudulent
statements about the operation of a nursing facility.
(17) A licensee must not knowingly allow an employee's,
a contractor's, or another person's action or inaction to result in
harassment or intimidation of any person for purposes of coercing
that person to use the services or equipment of a particular health
agency or facility.
(18) A licensee must not falsely bill for goods or
services or allow another person to bill for goods or services other
than those that have actually been delivered.
(19) A licensee must not make or file a false report
or allow an employee, contractor, or volunteer to make or file a report
that the licensee knows to be false.
(20) A licensee must not intentionally fail to file
a report or record required by state or federal law, impede or obstruct
such filings, or induce another person to impede or obstruct such
filings.
(21) A licensee must not use or knowingly allow employees
or others to use alcohol, narcotics, or other drugs in a manner that
interferes with the performance of the licensee's or other person's
duties.
(22) A licensee must not knowingly or through negligence
violate any confidentiality provisions prescribed by state or federal
law concerning a nursing facility resident.
(23) A licensee must not interfere with or impede an
investigation by withholding or misrepresenting facts to HHSC representatives,
or by using threats or harassment against any person involved or participating
in the investigation.
(24) A licensee must not display a license issued by
HHSC that is reproduced, altered, expired, suspended, or revoked.
(25) A licensee must not, knowingly or through negligence,
allow an employee or other individual to mismanage a resident's personal
funds deposited with the nursing facility.
(26) A licensee must not harass or intimidate an employee
or other representative of HHSC, other government agencies, or their
representatives concerning the administration of the nursing facility.
(27) A licensee must not offer or give any gift, loan,
or other benefit to a person working for HHSC unless the benefit is
offered or given on account of kinship or a personal relationship
independent of the official status of the person working for HHSC.
(b) Negligence, as referenced in the Standards of Conduct
in subsection (a) of this section, means the failure of a licensee
to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful licensee would
use in similar circumstances, or failure to act as a reasonably prudent
licensee would in similar circumstances.
|
| Source Note: The provisions of this §555.55 adopted to be effective June 1, 2004, 29 TexReg 4233; amended to be effective June 1, 2009, 34 TexReg 2795; transferred effective May 1, 2019, as published in the Texas Register April 12, 2019, 44 TexReg 1880; amended to be effective November 14, 2021, 46 TexReg 7791 |
