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H 8568Medical Services

Health and Safety - Rhode Island Program to Address Alzheimer's Disease

This bill extends the deadline and updates rules for specific healthcare facilities to create Alzheimer's disease care plans.

Introduced70 Yea0 Nay5 Not voting
Population
Affected
28
Email Legislator
Introduced May 20, 2026Committee House Health & Human Services

Plain-English Summary

This bill updates the requirements for certain healthcare facilities in Rhode Island to create and implement an operational plan for recognizing and managing patients with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders. It extends the deadline for these plans to December 31, 2027. The bill specifically lists which facilities must comply, such as nursing homes, adult hospitals, and hospice providers, while exempting others like pediatric hospitals and sleep centers. It also details exactly what these plans must include, such as staff training, patient safety, and advance care planning, and requires facilities to review these plans annually.

For younger readers

This bill changes the rules for places that take care of sick people, like hospitals and nursing homes. It gives them more time, until the end of 2027, to make a special plan for how to help patients who have Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is an illness that makes people forget things and get easily confused. The bill lists exactly which places need to make these plans and what the plans must include, like how to keep the patients safe, how to train the workers, and how to help the patients' families.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Alzheimer's patientsHealthcare facilitiesNursing facility staffHospital administratorsFamily caregivers
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Establishes comprehensive and standardized care protocols for Alzheimer's patients, ensuring vulnerable populations receive better, more specialized care in various healthcare settings.
  • Mandates training for both clinical and non-clinical staff on how to manage neurocognitive disorders, promoting a more educated and empathetic workforce.
  • Requires facilities to provide advance care planning and resources for family members and caregivers, strengthening the social safety net and providing crucial community support.
  • Delays the implementation deadline for these vital Alzheimer's care plans from 2023 to the end of 2027, leaving vulnerable patients without these protections for several more years.
  • Exempts certain facilities like CODAC (which treats substance use disorders), potentially leaving patients with dual diagnoses of dementia and addiction without specialized cognitive care plans.
  • Relies on facilities to maintain the plans and only provide them to the licensing agency "upon request," which may lack the proactive oversight needed to ensure strict compliance and protect marginalized patients.
For Conservatives
  • Provides regulatory relief by extending the deadline for healthcare facilities to implement these care plans, giving businesses until the end of 2027 to comply.
  • Specifically exempts several types of healthcare businesses from these mandates, such as sleep centers and medical marijuana centers, protecting them from unnecessary regulatory burdens.
  • Clearly defines exactly which facilities are subject to the mandate rather than leaving it up to the broad discretion of an unelected department of health director, providing regulatory predictability.
  • Imposes strict new state mandates on private healthcare facilities, dictating exactly what their internal operational plans must contain, which infringes on corporate freedom.
  • Requires healthcare businesses to conduct mandatory annual reviews of their operational plans, adding ongoing administrative burdens and compliance costs.
  • Mandates training for all clinical and non-clinical staff on cognitive impairment, which forces private businesses to spend time and resources on state-dictated educational programs.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 28 additions · 6 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 23-1.7-6 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-1.7 entitled "Rhode Island Program to Address Alzheimer’s Disease" is hereby amended to read as follows: 23-1.7-6. Healthcare facility plan.

(a) Every healthcare facility as defined in § 23-17-2 The following healthcare facilities shall, not later than October 1, 2023 December 31, 2027, complete and implement an operational plan for the recognition and management of patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.:

(1) Nursing facilities;

(2) Hospitals serving adult populations, excluding hospitals that exclusively serve pediatric patients; provided, however, that Bradley Hospital shall be exempt from the requirements of this section;

(3) Home care and home nursing care providers;

(4) Organized ambulatory care settings that provide services to adults; provided, however, that medical marijuana centers, CODAC facilities, and sleep centers shall be exempt from the requirements of this section;

(5) Hospice care providers; and

(6) Rehabilitation hospital centers.

(b) The department of health shall promulgate rules and regulations to implement the operational plan requirements of subsection (a).

(c) The director of the department of health, in consultation with the advisory council on Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, shall determine which healthcare facilities defined in § 23-17-2 will be subject to the requirements of subsection (a) of this section. The operational plan required pursuant to this section shall include protocols for the following:

(1) Identifying the signs and symptoms of cognitive impairment, including diseases and conditions that cause dementia;

(2) The management and treatment of residents or patients with neurocognitive disorders;

(3) Environmental considerations designed to optimize physical space and promote patient safety;

(4) Transfers, referrals, and discharge planning to appropriate care settings;

(5) Training of clinical and non-clinical staff; and

(6) Advance care planning and resources for family members and caregivers.

(d) The operational plan shall be reviewed annually by the healthcare facility to ensure that appropriate updates are made.

(e) The operational plan shall be maintained by the healthcare facility and made available to the licensing agency upon request.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2027.