Ohio Revised Code
Chapter 3721 | Nursing Homes; Residential Care Facilities
Section 3721.01 | Nursing Home and Residential Care Facility Definitions and Classifications.

Effective: June 29, 2019
Latest Legislation: House Bill 111 - 132nd General Assembly
(A) As used in sections 3721.01 to 3721.09 and 3721.99 of the Revised Code:
(1)(a) "Home" means an institution, residence, or facility that provides, for a period of more than twenty-four hours, whether for a consideration or not, accommodations to three or more unrelated individuals who are dependent upon the services of others, including a nursing home, residential care facility, home for the aging, and a veterans' home operated under Chapter 5907. of the Revised Code.
(b) "Home" also means both of the following:
(i) Any facility that a person, as defined in section 3702.51 of the Revised Code, proposes for certification as a skilled nursing facility or nursing facility under Title XVIII or XIX of the "Social Security Act," 49 Stat. 620 (1935), 42 U.S.C.A. 301, as amended, and for which a certificate of need, other than a certificate to recategorize hospital beds as described in section 3702.521 of the Revised Code or division (R)(7)(d) of the version of section 3702.51 of the Revised Code in effect immediately prior to April 20, 1995, has been granted to the person under sections 3702.51 to 3702.62 of the Revised Code after August 5, 1989;
(ii) A county home or district home that is or has been licensed as a residential care facility.
(c) "Home" does not mean any of the following:
(i) Except as provided in division (A)(1)(b) of this section, a public hospital or hospital as defined in section 3701.01 or 5122.01 of the Revised Code;
(ii) A residential facility as defined in section 5119.34 of the Revised Code;
(iii) A residential facility as defined in section 5123.19 of the Revised Code;
(iv) A community addiction services provider as defined in section 5119.01 of the Revised Code;
(v) A facility licensed under section 5119.37 of the Revised Code to operate an opioid treatment program;
(vi) A facility providing services under contract with the department of developmental disabilities under section 5123.18 of the Revised Code;
(vii) A facility operated by a hospice care program licensed under section 3712.04 of the Revised Code that is used exclusively for care of hospice patients;
(viii) A facility operated by a pediatric respite care program licensed under section 3712.041 of the Revised Code that is used exclusively for care of pediatric respite care patients;
(ix) A facility, infirmary, or other entity that is operated by a religious order, provides care exclusively to members of religious orders who take vows of celibacy and live by virtue of their vows within the orders as if related, and does not participate in the medicare program or the medicaid program if on January 1, 1994, the facility, infirmary, or entity was providing care exclusively to members of the religious order;
(x) A county home or district home that has never been licensed as a residential care facility.
(2) "Unrelated individual" means one who is not related to the owner or operator of a home or to the spouse of the owner or operator as a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother, sister, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, or as the child of an aunt or uncle.
(3) "Mental impairment" does not mean mental illness, as defined in section 5122.01 of the Revised Code, or developmental disability, as defined in section 5123.01 of the Revised Code.
(4) "Skilled nursing care" means procedures that require technical skills and knowledge beyond those the untrained person possesses and that are commonly employed in providing for the physical, mental, and emotional needs of the ill or otherwise incapacitated. "Skilled nursing care" includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(a) Irrigations, catheterizations, application of dressings, and supervision of special diets;
(b) Objective observation of changes in the patient's condition as a means of analyzing and determining the nursing care required and the need for further medical diagnosis and treatment;
(c) Special procedures contributing to rehabilitation;
(d) Administration of medication by any method ordered by a physician, such as hypodermically, rectally, or orally, including observation of the patient after receipt of the medication;
(e) Carrying out other treatments prescribed by the physician that involve a similar level of complexity and skill in administration.
(5)(a) "Personal care services" means services including, but not limited to, the following:
(i) Assisting residents with activities of daily living;
(ii) Assisting residents with self-administration of medication, in accordance with rules adopted under section 3721.04 of the Revised Code;
(iii) Preparing special diets, other than complex therapeutic diets, for residents pursuant to the instructions of a physician or a licensed dietitian, in accordance with rules adopted under section 3721.04 of the Revised Code.
(b) "Personal care services" does not include "skilled nursing care" as defined in division (A)(4) of this section. A facility need not provide more than one of the services listed in division (A)(5)(a) of this section to be considered to be providing personal care services.
(6) "Nursing home" means a home used for the reception and care of individuals who by reason of illness or physical or mental impairment require skilled nursing care and of individuals who require personal care services but not skilled nursing care. A nursing home is licensed to provide personal care services and skilled nursing care.
(7) "Residential care facility" means a home that provides either of the following:
(a) Accommodations for seventeen or more unrelated individuals and supervision and personal care services for three or more of those individuals who are dependent on the services of others by reason of age or physical or mental impairment;
(b) Accommodations for three or more unrelated individuals, supervision and personal care services for at least three of those individuals who are dependent on the services of others by reason of age or physical or mental impairment, and, to at least one of those individuals, any of the skilled nursing care authorized by section 3721.011 of the Revised Code.
(8) "Home for the aging" means a home that provides services as a residential care facility and a nursing home, except that the home provides its services only to individuals who are dependent on the services of others by reason of both age and physical or mental impairment.
The part or unit of a home for the aging that provides services only as a residential care facility is licensed as a residential care facility. The part or unit that may provide skilled nursing care beyond the extent authorized by section 3721.011 of the Revised Code is licensed as a nursing home.
(9) "County home" and "district home" mean a county home or district home operated under Chapter 5155. of the Revised Code.
(B) The director of health may further classify homes. For the purposes of this chapter, any residence, institution, hotel, congregate housing project, or similar facility that meets the definition of a home under this section is such a home regardless of how the facility holds itself out to the public.
(C) For purposes of this chapter, personal care services or skilled nursing care shall be considered to be provided by a facility if they are provided by a person employed by or associated with the facility or by another person pursuant to an agreement to which neither the resident who receives the services nor the resident's sponsor is a party.
(D) Nothing in division (A)(4) of this section shall be construed to permit skilled nursing care to be imposed on an individual who does not require skilled nursing care.
Nothing in division (A)(5) of this section shall be construed to permit personal care services to be imposed on an individual who is capable of performing the activity in question without assistance.
(E) Division (A)(1)(c)(ix) of this section does not prohibit a facility, infirmary, or other entity described in that division from seeking licensure under sections 3721.01 to 3721.09 of the Revised Code or certification under Title XVIII or XIX of the "Social Security Act." However, such a facility, infirmary, or entity that applies for licensure or certification must meet the requirements of those sections or titles and the rules adopted under them and obtain a certificate of need from the director of health under section 3702.52 of the Revised Code.
(F) Nothing in this chapter, or rules adopted pursuant to it, shall be construed as authorizing the supervision, regulation, or control of the spiritual care or treatment of residents or patients in any home who rely upon treatment by prayer or spiritual means in accordance with the creed or tenets of any recognized church or religious denomination.

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