50.49(3)
(3) Administration. The administration of this section shall be under the department which shall make or cause to be made such inspections and investigations as it deems necessary.
50.49(4)
(4) Licensing, inspection and regulation. The department may register, license, inspect and regulate home health agencies as provided in this section. The department shall ensure, in its inspections of home health agencies, that a sampling of records from private pay patients are reviewed. The department shall select the patients who shall receive home visits as a part of the inspection. Results of the inspections shall be made available to the public at each of the regional offices of the department.
50.49(5)
(5) Application for registration and license. 50.49(5)(a)(a) Registration shall be in writing in such form and contain such information as the department requires.
50.49(5)(b)
(b) The application for a license shall be in writing upon forms provided by the department and shall contain such information as it requires.
50.49(6)
(6) Issuance of license; inspection and investigation; annual renewal; nontransferable; content. 50.49(6)(a)(a) The department shall issue a license if the applicant is fit and qualified, and if the home health agencies meet the requirements established by this section. The department, or its designated representatives, shall make such inspections and investigations as are necessary to determine the conditions existing in each case and file written reports.
50.49(6)(b)
(b) A license, unless sooner suspended or revoked, shall be renewable at least biennially upon filing by the licensee, payment of the license fee and approval by the department of an annual report and application for renewal on forms provided by the department.
50.49(6)(c)
(c) Each license shall be issued only for the home health agency named in the application and shall not be transferable or assignable. If application for renewal is not so filed, such license is automatically canceled as of the date of its expiration. Any license granted shall state such additional information and special limitations as the department, by rule, prescribes.
50.49(7)
(7) Denial, suspension or revocation of license; notice. The department after notice to the applicant or licensee is authorized to deny, suspend or revoke a license in any case in which it finds that there has been a substantial failure to comply with the requirements of this section and the rules established hereunder.
50.49(8)
(8) Failure to register or operating without license; penalty. It is unlawful for any person, acting jointly or severally with any other person, to conduct, maintain, operate, or permit to be maintained or operated, or to participate in the conducting, maintenance or operating of a home health agency, unless, it is licensed as a home health agency by the department. Any person who violates this section shall be fined not more than $100 for the first offense and not more than $200 for each subsequent offense, and each day of violation after the first conviction shall constitute a separate offense.
50.49(9)
(9) Right of injunction. All orders issued by the department under this section shall be enforced by the attorney general. The circuit court of Dane county shall have jurisdiction to enforce such orders by injunctional and other appropriate relief.
50.49(10)
(10) Provisional licenses. A provisional license if approved by the department may be issued to any home health agency, the facilities of which are in use or needed for patients, but which is temporarily unable to conform to all the rules established under this section. A provisional license may not be issued for more than one year.
50.49 History
History: 1981 c. 93 ss.
162 to
166,
184;
1989 a. 31,
316;
1993 a. 27 s.
279; Stats. 1993 s. 50.49;
1993 a. 482;
1995 a. 225.
RURAL MEDICAL CENTERS
50.50
50.50
Definitions. In this subchapter:
50.50(3)
(3) "Health care services" means any of the following:
50.50(3)(a)
(a) Care that is provided in or by any of the following:
50.50(3)(e)
(e) Services that are specified in rules that the department promulgates.
50.50(6)
(6) "Hospital" has the meaning given in
s. 50.33 (2) (a) or
(b), except that "hospital" does not include a rural primary care hospital.
50.50(9)
(9) "Patient" means an individual who receives services from a rural medical center.
50.50(11)
(11) "Rural medical center" means an arrangement of facilities, equipment, services and personnel that is all of the following:
50.50(11)(a)
(a) Organized under a single governing and corporate structure.
50.50(11)(b)
(b) Capable of providing or assuring health care services, including appropriate referral, treatment and follow-up services, at one or more locations in a county, city, town or village that has a population of less than 15,000 and that is in an area that is not an urbanized area, as defined by the federal bureau of the census.
50.50(11)(c)
(c) A provider of at least 2 health care services under the arrangement or through a related corporate entity.
50.50(12)
(12) "Rural primary care hospital" means a facility that is currently designated by the federal health care financing administration as meeting the applicable requirements of
42 USC 1395i-4 (i) (2) and of
42 CFR 485, Subpart F.
50.50 History
History: 1995 a. 98 50.51
50.51
Departmental powers. The department shall do all of the following:
50.51(1)
(1) Provide uniform, statewide licensing, inspection and regulation of rural medical centers as specified in this subchapter.
50.51(2)
(2) Promulgate rules that establish all of the following:
50.51(2)(a)
(a) For the operation of licensed rural medical centers, standards that are designed to protect and promote the health, safety, rights and welfare of patients who receive health care services in rural medical centers.
50.51(2)(b)
(b) Minimum requirements for issuance of a provisional license, a regular initial license or a license renewal to rural medical centers.
50.51(2)(c)
(c) Fees for rural medical center provisional licensure and regular initial licensure and licensure renewal. The amounts of the fees shall be based on the health care services provided by the rural medical center.
50.51(2)(d)
(d) A procedure and criteria for waiver of or variance from standards under
par. (a) or minimum requirements under
par. (b).
50.51 History
History: 1995 a. 98 50.52
50.52
Licensing procedure and requirements. 50.52(1)
(1) No person may be required to obtain licensure as a rural medical center, except that no person may conduct, maintain, operate or permit to be conducted, maintained or operated health care services as a rural medical center unless the rural medical center is licensed by the department.
50.52(2)
(2) The department shall issue a provisional license, a regular initial license or a license renewal as a rural medical center to an applicant if all of the following are first done:
50.52(2)(a)
(a) The applicant pays the appropriate license fee, as established under
s. 50.51 (2) (c). Fees collected under this paragraph shall be credited to the appropriation under
s. 20.435 (1) (gm) for licensing and inspection activities.
50.52(2)(b)
(b) Except as provided in
par. (c), the department inspects the health care services provided by the applying rural medical center and finds that the applicant is fit and qualified and meets the requirements and standards of this subchapter and the rules promulgated under this subchapter.
50.52(2)(c)
(c) In lieu of conducting the inspection under
par. (b), the department accepts evidence that an applicant meets one of the following requirements:
50.52(2)(c)1.
1. Has applicable current, valid state licensure or approval as a hospital, a nursing home, a hospice or a home health agency.
50.52(2)(c)2.
2. Has an applicable, current agreement to participate as an eligible provider in medicare.
50.52(2)(c)4.
4. Satisfies qualifications that are specified by the department by rule.
50.52(3)
(3) Each license shall bear the name of the owner of the rural medical center, the name and address of the rural medical center and the health care services that the department licenses the rural medical center to provide.
50.52(4)
(4) Unless sooner revoked or suspended, a regular initial license or a license renewal issued to a rural medical center is valid for 24 months from the date of issuance and a provisional license issued to a rural medical center is valid for 6 months from the date of issuance.
50.52(5)
(5) Each license shall be issued only for the rural medical center and owner that are named in the license application and may not be transferred or assigned.
50.52 History
History: 1995 a. 98 50.53
50.53
Inspections and investigations. 50.53(1)
(1) The department may conduct unannounced inspections or investigations of a rural medical center as the department considers necessary.
50.53(2)
(2) A rural medical center that is inspected or investigated under this section shall provide the department with access to patient health care records, regardless of the source of patient health care payment, to fulfill the purpose of any inspections or investigations that the department conducts.
50.53 History
History: 1995 a. 98 50.54
50.54
Prohibitions. 50.54(1)(1) An entity that is not licensed as a rural medical center under this subchapter may not designate itself as a "rural medical center" or use the phrase "rural medical center" to represent or tend to represent the entity as a rural medical center or services provided by the entity as health care services provided by a rural medical center.
50.54(2)
(2) No person may do any of the following:
50.54(2)(a)
(a) Intentionally prevent, interfere with or impede an investigation by the department of an alleged violation or enforcement by the department of a requirement of this subchapter or the rules promulgated under this subchapter.
50.54(2)(b)
(b) Intentionally retaliate or discriminate against a patient or rural medical center employe for doing any of the following:
50.54(2)(b)2.
2. Initiating, participating in or testifying in an action to enforce any provision of this subchapter or rules promulgated under this subchapter.
50.54(2)(c)
(c) Intentionally destroy or modify the original report of an inspection that the department conducts under this subchapter or the rules promulgated under this subchapter.
50.54 History
History: 1995 a. 98 50.55
50.55
Penalties and remedies. 50.55(1)(a)(a) Any person who violates this subchapter or any rule promulgated under this subchapter, except
s. 50.54 (2), may be required to forfeit not less than $100 nor more than $500 for each offense. Each day of continued violation constitutes a separate offense.
50.55(1)(b)
(b) In determining whether a forfeiture is to be imposed and in fixing the amount of the forfeiture to be imposed, if any, for a violation, the department shall consider all of the following factors:
50.55(1)(b)3.
3. Any previous violations committed by the licensee.
50.55(1)(b)4.
4. The financial benefit to the rural medical center of committing or continuing to commit the violation.
