Committee expands allowable uses for nursing-home penalty fund to support training and workforce

The Health and Human Services Committee unanimously advanced House Bill 12-44 after sponsors and agency witnesses described a mismatch between the statute’s enumerated allowable uses of nursing-home civil-penalty (CMP) reinvestment funds and updated federal guidance that encourages broader statewide training and workforce strategies.

Representative Joseph, a sponsor, said Colorado’s nursing-home penalty cash fund balance is roughly $20 million and that current statute—written 15 years ago—restricts how the state may spend those monies. The bill would allow the state to use the funds for programs such as tuition reimbursement for nurses who commit to work in nursing homes or as state surveyors and for evidence-based statewide training (infection prevention, dementia care, advanced wound management), subject to federal approval and the existing grant-board process.

CDPHE representatives and the long-term care ombudsman supported the change, telling the committee that narrow spending categories and administrative burden have limited the state’s ability to deploy the funds even as penalties have accrued. Providers, advocacy groups and rural hospital representatives testified that targeted tuition reimbursement and shared training could help address critical staffing shortfalls in rural and underserved counties.

The committee adopted a technical amendment and passed the bill with a favorable recommendation (13–0). Sponsors said the change is intended to align state statute with existing federal rules and to get the accumulated dollars into training and workforce programs that directly benefit nursing-home residents.

Next steps: HB12-44 will move to the Committee of the Whole; implementation would require federal review and approval of grant proposals through the existing Nursing Home Grants Innovation Board process.