Purpose and Reason:

The Rhode Island Department of Health ("RIDOH"; "The Department") is proposing to amend "Licensing of Hospitals" [216-RICR-40-10-4] to revise language requiring hospitals to provide the Department with "a plan, acceptable to the Director, for continued operation of the facility, suspension of operations, or closure in the event of such actual or potential labor dispute/action." The provision requiring a plan already exists in these regulations, however, the requirement that notification of a labor dispute or action be provided to the Department withing twenty-four hours and that a strike plan be provided within 72 hours of such notification are being added. Additionally, language is being added to require hospitals to submit a strike contingency plan at least sixty days prior to the expiration of any existing collective bargaining agreement.

The language change is also updating the language to indicate that the requirements only apply to hospitals and not all healthcare facilities.