"NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   The secretary of health shall convene a task force to prepare a report for the legislature with proposed guidelines and recommendations for staffing plans that ensure qualified and competent nursing staff are available to provide quality patient care and address how staffing issues can be incorporated in the quality improvement process.
     (1) In preparing its report and recommendations, the task force shall:
     (a) Address what research-based factors should be included in unit specific staffing plans in addition to: Patient acuity, census, department geography, and sufficient nursing staff and staff skill mix;      (b) Evaluate how facility size, location, patient acuity, and work force availability may influence staffing plans in a unit or facility;
     (c) Evaluate how staffing plans relate to improved quality of care as identified by authoritative sources and research, and the relationship between staffing and quality improvement initiatives;
     (d) Address the level of input from direct care providers throughout the development and ongoing evaluation of the staffing plan;      (e) Analyze and suggest a method and frequency by which the department shall be notified of each facility's staffing plan;
     (f) Recommend an approach for how the public can access information about a facility staffing plan, and how the facility will notify direct care providers of the staffing plan;
     (g) Address how the department will monitor the appropriateness of the facility's staffing plans, recommend a mechanism for staff or other concerned parties to notify the department, and evaluate the department's response to the concerns about a facility's terms or implementation of its staffing plan where patient care appears to have been compromised; and
     (h) Address how staffing issues could best be incorporated into the peer review or quality improvement process, with consideration of:
     (i) The methods for addressing staffing issues on a quality improvement form; and
     (ii) Staffing information in root cause analysis of adverse events and incidents.
     (2) The task force shall consist of sixteen members, who, aside from the consumer, shall have health care experience or substantive knowledge of the health care field, appointed by the secretary of health;
     (a) Seven representatives from nursing unions, to include at least five registered nurses, four of whom are involved in direct patient care;
     (b) Two representatives from the two organizations representing hospitals;
     (c) Two registered nurses in managerial or executive roles, who are representatives of an organization representing nurse executives;
     (d) One consumer representative;
     (e) The secretary of health or the secretary's designee;
     (f) One chief executive officer or chief operating officer of a hospital;
     (g) One human resources director or executive of a health care facility who is a representative of an organization representing health care human resources executives; and
     (h) One representative of organizations representing long-term care facilities.
     (3) The task force shall issue its report to the legislature by December 31, 2006. If the task force is not able to complete its work by December 31, 2006, an interim report to the legislature is due on that date, with the full report due no later than September 1, 2007.
     (4) Any administrative costs of the department of health shall be funded from nursing license fee revenues from existing fees deposited into the health professions account."