| Abstract: | This regulation authorizes Intermediate Care Facilities For the Mentally Retarded (ICFs/MR) to negotiate revisions to their 1977 correction plans for Life Safety Code, living, dining, and therapy area deficiencies under certain circumstances. Under this regulation, HCFA is authorized to approve revised correction plans when facilities have completed at least 25 percent of their original plans and agree to phase out an increased number of beds in previously certified units not already scheduled for phase out under existing correction plans. The timetable for the phase out and the actual number of beds to be phased out will be negotiated with target figures established for each six-month period of the plan. The total time for the plan cannot exceed five years from the effective date of this rule. Facilities are still required to meet the July 18, 1982 deadline for those items in existing plans which include construction or renovation of units that will remain in use after the phase out is completed. The intent of this regulation is to stimulate an overall reduction in the number of certified beds in large residential facilities. We hope that it will forestall further expenditures of capital funds for renovation of existing facilities or construction of new units where an expanded phase out of units is feasible. |
