3020.1 The Mayor shall establish a Central Referral Bureau which shall have the functions provided in this section.

3020.2 The Central Referral Bureau shall keep and make available to the public an accurate and current listing of all licensed skilled care, intermediate care, and community residence facilities in the District, indexed according to their classification, location, size, admission restrictions, the ratings assigned them by the Central Referral Bureau, and their most recent occupancy reports.

3020.3 The Central Referral Bureau shall develop, in cooperation with District medical associations, nurses' associations, pharmaceutical associations, associations of nursing home directors and community residence facility residence directors, mental health associations, associations for retarded persons, senior citizens' associations, and any other interested community associations, criteria and a monitoring system for rating licensed facilities based on the excellence with which they perform their recognized functions.

3020.4 The Central Referral Bureau shall not be responsible for any assessments that are normally the responsibility of District licensing authorities.

3020.5 The Central Referral Bureau shall keep on file for public inspection the following records concerning each licensed facility:

(a) For community residence facilities only, the community residence facility's program statement required under §3413 of chapter 34;

(b) The facility's current charges;

(c) The facility's admission policies;

(d) The facility's current occupancy level reports;

(e) The Central Referral Bureau's rating of the facility according to the Bureau's criteria and the basis upon which the rating is made; and

(f) A written summary of any complaints made about the facility to the Central Referral Bureau together with the results of any investigations of the complaints and any responses from a facility concerning the complaints.

3020.6 The Central Referral Bureau shall recommend placements in community residence facilities for the following:

1. (a) All persons seeking such living arrangements who are receiving a supplement to their Supplementary Security Income from the District;
2. (b) All persons who are receiving general public assistance from the District;
3. (c) All persons who are on convalescent leave from Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, if their hospitalization was paid for in part by the District; and
4. (d) Any other persons to whom the District is responsible for the cost of their care and maintenance.3020.7 Recommended placements shall be based on an evaluation of the applicant's physical, mental, and social needs made by a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, and other professional and paraprofessional personnel made available to the Central Referral Bureau for that purpose.3020.8 The Central Referral Bureau shall be responsible for certifying that a person is eligible for the supplementation of his or her Supplementary Security Income by the District government.3020.9 The Central Referral Bureau shall recommend placements in specific skilled care, intermediate care, or community residence facilities for any other person seeking such living arrangements at the request of the prospective resident or his or her next of kin, doctor, or sponsor.3020.10 Placement recommendations shall be based on evaluations of the prospective resident's physical, mental, and social needs as determined by the prospective resident's own physician or the professionals made available to the Central Referral Bureau by the District government.3020.11 For persons having no access to private or institutional social service assistance in actual placement in the facility, the Central Referral Bureau shall arrange assistance.3020.12 The Central Referral Bureau shall charge a fee for its service that takes into account the income and resources of the prospective resident.3020.13 The Central Referral Bureau shall advise the public, through the mass media and other reasonable means, of its functions.3020.14 The Central Referral Bureau shall receive complaints from residents, prospective residents, next of kin, sponsors of residents (if any), and other interested persons about skilled, intermediate, or community residence facilities and, after an initial screening of the complaint, shall refer those complaints to the proper District official.3020.15 The Central Referral Bureau's conclusion as to the validity of any complaints shall be made

known in writing to the residence director of the facility involved, if any, and the appropriate District licensing authority.

3020.16 The Central Referral Bureau shall reassess the placement of each resident of a community residence facility who is described in §3020.6 periodically as it deems necessary, but in no case less often than once every two (2) years, for the purpose of determining whether the community residence facility in which the resident resides is able to meet his or her physical, mental, and social needs within the limits of its license.

3020.17 The reassessment by the Central Referral Bureau shall be based on the following:

(a) Records required to be kept by the facility under §§3410 through 3412 and §3440 of this title when applicable;

(b) Any additional information solicited or received by the Central Referral Bureau from the resident, his or her sponsor (if any), personal physician, and the residence director; and

(c) Any reevaluation of the resident's physical, social, and mental needs made by professionals available to the Central Referral Bureau that the Bureau may request to be made.

3020.18 The Central Referral Bureau shall be responsible for the development of training programs as deemed necessary for the administrators, residence directors, and other community residence facility staff in order to provide pertinent information concerning the following:

(a) Nutrition;

(b) Aspects of mental health, mental retardation, and aging;

(c) Record keeping;

(d) Social and recreational programming; and

(e) Administration and financial management.

3020.19 Nothing in this section shall preclude an institution or a social service agency from maintaining its own placement and monitoring arrangements with community residence facilities.

AUTHORITY: The authority for this section is Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 §402, 1 D.C. Code, 2001 Ed. at 125.

SOURCE: Community Residence Facilities Licensure Act of 1977 §401, D.C. Law 2-35, 24

DCR 1458, 1516 (August 19, 1977).