Michigan’s New Regulations for Health Facility Licensing

With so many health care facilities in Michigan focused almost exclusively on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, some may have missed that in February the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs issued new health facility licensing regulations. These regulations are the culmination of more than three years’ of work by the Department and extensive input from stakeholders. 

These new regulations apply to freestanding surgical outpatient facilities, hospices, hospitals and nursing care facilities. They are a comprehensive rewrite of these rules and replace six separate and outdated sets of rules. The Department eliminated obsolete rules and made certain other rules consistent across facility types (e.g., rules pertaining to patient rights, complaints and investigations). Facilities subject to these new regulations must comply with them to maintain licensure and qualify for Medicare and Medicaid funding. Many of the changes and updates mirror federal CMS requirements which is intended to enable facilities to track one, cohesive set of compliance requirements. 

All health care facilities in Michigan subject to these new regulations should do the following: 

1. Orient themselves to the new regulations. The new regulations are organized into ten parts. Parts 1–9 apply to all of the following: freestanding surgical outpatient facilities, hospices, hospitals and nursing care facilities. Part 10 of the new regulations is divided into four subparts, each of which only applies to one facility type as follows: subpart A applies only to freestanding surgical outpatient facilities, subpart B applies only to hospices, subpart C applies only to hospitals and subpart D applies only to nursing care facilities. Facilities should orient themselves to these new regulations and how they are organized by facility. 
2. Review the new regulations in light of existing facility policies and procedures. The new regulations streamline and update outdated or obsolete regulations and are intended to be in line with current practice standards. Facilities should similarly review their policies and procedures to make sure they are consistent with the requirements of the new regulations and update any outdated policies and procedures that are not consistent with the new regulations and do not reflect current facility practices.

Homes for the aged are not subject to these regulations, but the rules governing homes for the aged may be subject to revision in the future. 

For questions about the new regulations, please contact any member of the Honigman Health Care Practice Group.