Sections 71-401 to 71-479 shall be known and may be cited as the Health Care Facility Licensure Act.

The purpose of the Health Care Facility Licensure Act and the Nebraska Nursing Home Act is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by providing for the licensure of health care facilities and health care services in the State of Nebraska and for the development, establishment, and enforcement of basic standards for such facilities and services.

For purposes of the Health Care Facility Licensure Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions found in sections 71-404 to 71-431 shall apply.

(1) Adult day service means a person or any legal entity which provides care and an array of social, medical, or other support services for a period of less than twenty-four consecutive hours in a community-based group program to four or more persons who require or request such services due to age or functional impairment.

(2) Adult day service does not include community-based waiver services provided by an entity certified as a specialized program pursuant to the Developmental Disabilities Services Act or a PACE center.

(1) Ambulatory surgical center means a facility (a) where surgical services are provided to persons not requiring hospitalization who are discharged from such facility within twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes from the time of admission, (b) which meets all applicable requirements for licensure as a health clinic under the Health Care Facility Licensure Act, and (c) which has qualified for a written agreement with the Health Care Financing Administration of the United States Department of Health and Human Services or its successor to participate in medicare as an ambulatory surgical center as defined in 42 C.F.R. 416 et seq. or which receives other third-party reimbursement for such services.

(2) Ambulatory surgical center does not include an office or clinic used solely by a practitioner or group of practitioners in the practice of medicine, dentistry, or podiatry.

Assisted-living facility has the same meaning as in section 71-5903.