Governor Hassan and HHS Commissioner Toumpas Release Licensing Review for Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Centers

Statement

Governor Maggie Hassan and Health and Human Services (HHS) Commissioner Nick Toumpas today released a review of licensing requirements for residential substance abuse treatment centers and announced that the department will revise the rules around bedroom-size requirements for residential centers.

Governor Hassan and Commissioner Toumpas launched the review on August 12, 2015, in light of the state's overwhelming demand for increased substance misuse treatment services and concerns raised by treatment centers seeking to expand.

"Increasing New Hampshire's treatment capacity is critical as we work to strengthen our ongoing efforts to combat the heroin and substance abuse crisis," Governor Hassan said. "Reauthorizing our bipartisan health care expansion program remains the single most important step we can take to increase substance abuse treatment capacity, this review demonstrates that there are steps we can take in the interim to safely and responsibly speed approvals of new residential treatment facilities. That is why I have directed the Department of Health and Human Services to follow the review's recommendation to revise its rules around bedroom-size requirements to create a consistent standard that is fair to all providers."

While the HHS Health Facilities Licensing Unit revises the rules for the bedroom square footage requirement, they will accept waiver requests consistent with the review's recommendation.

In the 30 years since the State's licensing rules for residential treatment facilities were initially established, they have undergone several updates and revisions as the treatment needs and safety standards at these facilities have evolved. The most recent changes to the state's licensing rules for residential treatment facilities were put in place in February 2011, after being approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, and are based on recommendations from the Facilities Guidelines Institute.

"I thank the state's working group for their swift and thorough work on this review, and I will continue working with stakeholders at all levels -- from the federal government, law enforcement and public safety officials, to health care providers, local communities and families -- to continue strengthening our efforts to combat the heroin and substance abuse crisis," Governor Hassan said.

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