Board of Health Chapter 4 Emergency Rulemaking

The State Board of Health will meet tomorrow, Nov. 16, to consider the second set of emergency rules for the section of Chapter 4 pertaining to hospitals. The proposed rules reflect House Bill 22-1401, which seeks to ensure hospitals are prepared for a public health emergency or staffing shortage through a robust nurse staffing committee and plan, comprehensive emergency management, and reporting on staffed-bed capacity data to CDPHE.

The proposed emergency rules are nearly identical to those adopted in August and include:

1. A definition for staffed-bed capacity for the purposes of this emergency rule request.
2. Requirements for hospitals to:
   • Establish a robust nurse staffing committee that is required to create, implement, and evaluate a nurse staffing plan and to receive, track, and resolve complaints and receive feedback from direct-care nurses and other staff;
   • Submit its nurse staffing plan to CDPHE on an annual basis;
   • Evaluate its nurse staffing plan on a quarterly basis and, based on complaints and recommendations of patients and staff, revise the nurse staffing plan accordingly;
   • Prepare a quarterly report containing the details of the evaluation;
   • Update its emergency management plans annually and as often as necessary, as circumstances warrant, and include specific provisions to maximize staffed-bed capacity and appropriate utilization of hospital beds to the extent necessary for a public health emergency;
   • Report to CDPHE the hospital’s current staffed-bed capacity, in a form and manner determined by CDPHE;
   • Notify CDPHE if the hospital’s ability to meet staffed-bed capacity falls below 80 percent of the required baseline in a specified period and submit a plan to staff the hospital at 80 percent or above of its staffed-bed capacity within 30 days; and
   • Assign direct-care providers only to a nursing unit or clinical area of a hospital that the provider is properly trained in.
3. Added language to clarify that this requirement applies only to hospitals with more than 25 beds.

Individuals who wish to provide testimony can sign up to do so here; there is a three-minute time limit for each testimony. Written testimony can be submitted in advance of the meeting to [email protected].

Additional information on this meeting may be found on the Board of Health website.