Hot Topic: Nursing Homes for Sex Offenders & Violent Offenders

New Ohio Sex Offender Requirements for Long Term Care Facilities

This Ohio law may be at odds w/HIPAA (Federal Law).

6-23-2014 Ohio:

Nursing homes, residential care facilities and county homes (“Homes”) in Ohio will soon have additional requirements related to the admission of a registered sex offender.

House Bill 483, the Mid-Biennium Budget Review bill was signed by Governor Kasich on June 16, 2014 with an effective date in September 15, 2014.

Rules are required to be written by the Ohio Department of Health (“ODH”) in the future for further guidance.

Requirements for the Homes include checking the Ohio sex offender registry before admission of a registered sex offender. Facilities can include questions about a registered sex offender status on their admission applications.
Sec. 3721.122. Before an individual is admitted as a resident to a home, the home's administrator shall search for the individual's name in the internet-based sex offender and child-victim offender database established under division (A)(11) of section 2950.13 of the Revised Code. If the search results identify the individual as a sex offender and the individual is admitted as a resident to the home, the administrator shall provide for the home to do all of the following:

(A) Develop a plan of care to protect the other residents' rights to a safe environment and to be free from abuse;

(B) Notify all of the home's other residents and their sponsors that a sex offender has been admitted as a resident to the home and include in the notice a description of the plan of care developed under division (A) of this section;

(C) Direct the individual in updating the individual's address under section 2950.05 of the Revised Code and, if the individual is unable to do so without assistance, provide the assistance the individual needs to update the individual's address under that section.
The Homes must check the potential resident’s name in the required database to determine if the potential resident is an Ohio registered sex offender.

If a registerd sex offender is admitted, a care plan must be devleoped to protect other residents and provide a safe environment free of abuse. Also, the Homes must notify residents and their sponsors of the sex offender’s admission and provide a description of the plan of care for safety. ..Source.. by Janet K. Feldkamp

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You have got to be kidding me. There is going to come a time when one of these laws prevents a sex offender from getting needed treatment. It rings very close to the constitution prohibiting discrimination of a class. This might morph into a proper challenge to the Supreme Court in re-writing the registries. It is certainly inhuman to harass anyone, even an ex-sex offender for the rest of their life.