Section 1250.
Cal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 1250.
in effectAs used in this chapter, “health facility” means a facility, place, or building that is organized, maintained, and operated for the diagnosis, care, prevention, and treatment of human illness, physical or mental, including convalescence and rehabilitation and including care during and after pregnancy, or for any one or more of these purposes, for one or more persons, to which the persons are admitted for a 24-hour stay or longer, and includes the following types:
(a)
“General acute care hospital” means a health facility having a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an organized medical staff that provides 24-hour inpatient care, including the following
basic services: medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory,
radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. A general acute care hospital may include more than one physical plant maintained and operated on separate premises as provided in Section 1250.8. A general acute care hospital that exclusively provides acute medical rehabilitation center services, including at least physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, may provide for the required surgical and anesthesia services through a contract with another acute care hospital. In addition, a general acute care hospital that, on July 1, 1983, provided required surgical and anesthesia services through a contract or agreement with another acute care hospital may continue to provide these surgical and anesthesia services through a contract or agreement with an acute care hospital. The general acute care hospital operated by the State Department of Developmental Services at Agnews
Developmental Center may, until June 30, 2007, provide surgery and anesthesia services through a contract or agreement with another acute care hospital. Notwithstanding the requirements of this subdivision, a general acute care hospital operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the Department of Veterans Affairs may provide surgery and anesthesia services during normal weekday working hours, and not provide these services during other hours of the weekday or on weekends or holidays, if the general acute care hospital otherwise meets the requirements of this section.
A “general acute care hospital” includes a “rural general acute care hospital.” However, a “rural general acute care hospital” shall not be required by the department to provide surgery and anesthesia services. A “rural general acute care hospital” shall meet either of the
following conditions:
(1)
The hospital meets criteria for designation within peer group six or eight, as defined in the report entitled Hospital Peer Grouping for Efficiency Comparison, dated December 20, 1982.
(2)
The hospital meets the criteria for designation within peer group five or seven, as defined in the report entitled Hospital Peer Grouping for Efficiency Comparison, dated December 20, 1982, and has no more than 76 acute care beds and is located in a census dwelling place of 15,000 or less population according to the 1980 federal census.
(b)
“Acute psychiatric hospital” means a health facility having a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an organized
medical staff that provides 24-hour inpatient care for persons with mental health disorders or other patients referred to in Division 5 (commencing with Section 5000) or Division 6 (commencing with Section 6000) of the Welfare and Institutions Code, including the following basic services: medical, nursing, rehabilitative, pharmacy, and dietary services.
(c)
(1)
“Skilled nursing facility” means a health facility that provides skilled nursing care and supportive care to patients whose primary need is for availability of skilled nursing care on an extended basis.
(2)
“Skilled nursing facility” includes a “small house skilled nursing facility (SHSNF),” as defined in Section 1323.5.
(d)
“Intermediate care facility” means a health facility that provides inpatient care to ambulatory or nonambulatory patients who have recurring need for skilled nursing supervision and need supportive care, but who do not require availability of continuous skilled nursing care.
(e)
“Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled habilitative” means a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation, developmental, and supportive health services to 15 or fewer persons with developmental disabilities who have intermittent recurring needs for nursing services, but have been certified by a physician and surgeon as not requiring availability of continuous skilled nursing care.
(f)
“Special hospital” means a health facility
having a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an organized medical or dental staff that provides inpatient or outpatient care in dentistry or maternity.
(g)
“Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled” means a facility that provides 24-hour personal care, habilitation, developmental, and supportive health services to persons with developmental disabilities whose primary need is for developmental services and who have a recurring but intermittent need for skilled nursing services.
(h)
“Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-nursing” means a facility with a capacity of 4 to 15 beds that provides 24-hour personal care, developmental services, and nursing supervision for persons with developmental
disabilities who have intermittent recurring needs for skilled nursing care but have been certified by a physician and surgeon as not requiring continuous skilled nursing care. The facility shall serve medically fragile persons with developmental disabilities or who demonstrate significant developmental delay that may lead to a developmental disability if not treated.
(i)
(1)
“Congregate living health facility” means a residential home with a capacity, except as provided in paragraph (4), of no more than 18 beds, that provides inpatient care, including the following basic services: medical supervision, 24-hour skilled nursing and supportive care, pharmacy, dietary, social, recreational, and at least one type of service specified in paragraph (2). The primary need of congregate living health facility residents shall be
for availability of skilled nursing care on a recurring, intermittent, extended, or continuous basis. This care is generally less intense than that provided in general acute care hospitals but more intense than that provided in skilled nursing facilities.
(2)
Congregate living health facilities shall provide one or more of the following services:
(A)
Services for persons who are mentally alert, persons with physical disabilities, who may be ventilator dependent.
(B)
Services for persons who have a diagnosis of terminal illness, a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, or both. Terminal illness means the individual has a life expectancy of six months or less as stated in writing by his or her attending physician and surgeon.
A “life-threatening illness” means the individual has an illness that can lead to a possibility of a termination of life within five years or less as stated in writing by his or her attending physician and surgeon.
(C)
Services for persons who are catastrophically and severely disabled. A person who is catastrophically and severely disabled means a person whose origin of disability was acquired through trauma or nondegenerative neurologic illness, for whom it has been determined that active rehabilitation would be beneficial and to whom these services are being provided. Services offered by a congregate living health facility to a person who is catastrophically disabled shall include, but not be limited to, speech, physical, and occupational therapy.
(3)
A congregate living
health facility license shall specify which of the types of persons described in paragraph (2) to whom a facility is licensed to provide services.
(4)
(A)
A facility operated by a city and county for the purposes of delivering services under this section may have a capacity of 59 beds.
(B)
A congregate living health facility not operated by a city and county servicing persons who are terminally ill, persons who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, or both, that is located in a county with a population of 500,000 or more persons, or located in a county of the 16th class pursuant to Section 28020 of the Government Code, may have not more than 25 beds for the purpose of serving persons who are terminally ill.
(5)
A congregate living health facility shall have a noninstitutional, homelike environment.
(j)
(1)
“Correctional treatment center” means a health facility operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities, or a county, city, or city and county law enforcement agency that, as determined by the department, provides inpatient health services to that portion of the inmate population who do not require a general acute care level of basic services. This definition shall not apply to those areas of a law enforcement facility that houses inmates or wards who may be receiving outpatient services and are housed separately for reasons of improved access to health care, security, and protection. The health services provided by a correctional
treatment center shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following basic services: physician and surgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, nursing, pharmacy, and dietary. A correctional treatment center may provide the following services: laboratory, radiology, perinatal, and any other services approved by the department.
(2)
Outpatient surgical care with anesthesia may be provided, if the correctional treatment center meets the same requirements as a surgical clinic licensed pursuant to Section 1204, with the exception of the requirement that patients remain less than 24 hours.
(3)
Correctional treatment centers shall maintain written service agreements with general acute care hospitals to provide for those inmate physical health needs that cannot be met by the
correctional treatment center.
(4)
Physician and surgeon services shall be readily available in a correctional treatment center on a 24-hour basis.
(5)
It is not the intent of the Legislature to have a correctional treatment center supplant the general acute care hospitals at the
California Medical Facility, the California Men’s Colony, and the California Institution for Men. This subdivision shall not be construed to prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from obtaining a correctional treatment center license at these sites.
(k)
“Nursing facility” means a health facility licensed pursuant to this chapter that is certified to participate as a provider of care either as a skilled nursing facility in the federal Medicare Program under Title XVIII of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395 et seq.) or as a nursing facility in the federal Medicaid Program under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396 et seq.), or as both.
(l)
Regulations defining a correctional treatment center described in
subdivision (j) that is operated by a county, city, or city and county, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities, shall not become effective prior to, or, if effective, shall be inoperative until January 1, 1996, and until that time these correctional facilities are exempt from any licensing requirements.
(m)
“Intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled-continuous nursing (ICF/DD-CN)” means a homelike facility with a capacity of four to eight, inclusive, beds that provides 24-hour personal care, developmental services, and nursing supervision for persons with developmental disabilities who have continuous needs for skilled nursing care and have been certified by a physician and surgeon as warranting continuous skilled nursing care. The facility
shall serve medically fragile persons who have developmental disabilities or demonstrate significant developmental delay that may lead to a developmental disability if not treated. ICF/DD-CN facilities shall be subject to licensure under this chapter upon adoption of licensing regulations in accordance with Section 1275.3. A facility providing continuous skilled nursing services to persons with developmental disabilities pursuant to Section 14132.20 or 14495.10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall apply for licensure under this subdivision within 90 days after the regulations become effective, and may continue to operate pursuant to those sections until its licensure application is either approved or denied.
(n)
“Hospice facility” means a health facility licensed pursuant to this chapter with a capacity of no more than 24 beds that provides
hospice services. Hospice services include, but are not limited to, routine care, continuous care, inpatient respite care, and inpatient hospice care as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 1339.40, and is operated by a provider of hospice services that is licensed pursuant to Section 1751 and certified as a hospice pursuant to Part 418 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
References
referencesCal. Welfare and Institutions Code - WIC § 6000.
referencesCal. Government Code - GOV § 28020.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 1250.8.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 5000.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 1323.5.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 1204.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 1275.3.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 14132.20.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 1339.40.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 1751.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026