Adult Care Home and Family Care Home Rules

Pursuant to GS 150B-21.3A, Periodic Review and Expiration of Existing Rules, all rules are reviewed at least every 10 years, or they shall expire. As a result of the periodic review of Subchapters 10A NCAC 13F, Licensing of Adult Care Homes of Seven or More Beds, and 10A NCAC 13G, Licensing of Family Care Homes, these proposed readoption rules were part of the 97 total rules determined as “Necessary With Substantive Public Interest,” requiring readoption. With input from stakeholders, substantive changes are proposed for readoption for the regulation of licensed Adult Care Homes and Family Care Homes in N.C. An additional intent of the proposed rules is to make the rules of these two types of assisted living residences comparable, if not the same, for regulatory efficiency since they both house the same type of residents as permitted by law.

The agency is proposing changes to update and clarify the requirements for capacity in family care homes as well as the housekeeping and furnishing requirements in adult and family care homes. The agency is also proposing changes to the fire safety and disaster plan requirements to now include the development of emergency preparedness plans to align with current practices and trends in the industry. The proposed rule language now includes the contents for emergency preparedness plans. Proposed changes also include updates to the star-rating rules to be consistent with the existing requirements in N.C. Gen. Stat. 131D-10 and to ensure the requirements are clear and unambiguous. Changes are also being proposed to resident assessment and care plan rules to remove outdated language and clarify how the assessment is to be completed and the care plan is to be developed and used to meet the needs of residents. There are approximately 582 licensed adult care home facilities with seven or more beds and 530 family care home facilities with 6 or fewer beds in North Carolina. All facilities are privately owned and operated. In addition, the proposed rules update standards, clarify rule text, remove unnecessary text, make technical changes, and remove unnecessary and outdated requirements.

These rules have been broken up into 3 groups (Groups A, B, and C) based on effective date. These are the last groups of periodic review rules.