§ 96.135 - Restrictions on expenditure of grant.

§ 96.135 Restrictions on expenditure of grant.

(a) The State shall not expend the Block Grant on the following activities:

(1) To provide inpatient hospital services, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section;

(2) To make cash payments to intended recipients of health services;

(3) To purchase or improve land, purchase, construct, or permanently improve (other than minor remodeling) any building or other facility, or purchase major medical equipment;

(4) To satisfy any requirement for the expenditure of non-Federal funds as a condition for the receipt of Federal funds;

(5) To provide financial assistance to any entity other than a public or nonprofit private entity; or

(6) To provide individuals with hypodermic needles or syringes so that such individuals may use illegal drugs, unless the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service determines that a demonstration needle exchange program would be effective in reducing drug abuse and the risk that the public will become infected with the etiologic agent for AIDS.

(b) The State shall limit expenditures on the following:

(1) The State involved will not expend more than 5 percent of the grant to pay the costs of administering the grant; and

(2) The State will not, in expending the grant for the purpose of providing treatment services in penal or correctional institutions of the State, expend more than an amount prescribed by section 1931(a)(3) of the PHS Act.

(c) Exception regarding inpatient hospital services.

(1) With respect to compliance with the agreement made under paragraph (a) of this section, a State (acting through the Director of the principal agency) may expend a grant for inpatient hospital-based substance abuse programs subject to the limitations of paragraph (c)(2) of this section only when it has been determined by a physician that:

(i) The primary diagnosis of the individual is substance abuse, and the physician certifies this fact;

(ii) The individual cannot be safely treated in a community-based, nonhospital, residential treatment program;

(iii) The Service can reasonably be expected to improve an individual's condition or level of functioning;

(iv) The hospital-based substance abuse program follows national standards of substance abuse professional practice; and

(2) In the case of an individual for whom a grant is expended to provide inpatient hospital services described above, the allowable expenditure shall conform to the following:

(i) The daily rate of payment provided to the hospital for providing the services to the individual will not exceed the comparable daily rate provided for community-based, nonhospital, residential programs of treatment for substance abuse; and

(ii) The grant may be expended for such services only to the extent that it is medically necessary, i.e., only for those days that the patient cannot be safely treated in a residential, community-based program.

(d) The Secretary may approve a waiver for construction under paragraph (a)(3) of this section within 120 days after the date of a request only if:

(1) The State demonstrates to the Secretary that adequate treatment cannot be provided through the use of existing facilities and that alternative facilities in existing suitable buildings are not available;

(2) The State has carefully designed a plan that minimizes the costs of renovation or construction;

(3) The State agrees, with respect to the costs to be incurred by the State in carrying out the purpose of the waiver, to make available non-Federal contributions in cash toward such costs in an amount equal to not less than $1 for each $1 of Federal funds provided under the Block Grant; and

(4) The State submits the following to support paragraphs (b)(1), (2) and (3), of this section:

(i) Documentation to support paragraph (d)(1) of this section, such as local needs assessments, waiting lists, survey data and other related information;

(ii) A brief description of the project to be funded, including the type(s) of services to be provided and the projected number of residential and/or outpatient clients to be served;

(iii) The specific amount of Block Grant funds to be used for this project;

(iv) The number of outpatient treatment slots planned or the number of residential beds planned, if applicable;

(v) The estimate of the total cost of the construction or rehabilitation (and a description of how these estimates were determined), based on an independent estimate of said cost, using standardized measures as determined by an appropriate State construction certifying authority;

(vi) An assurance by the State that all applicable National (e.g., National Fire Protection Association, Building Officials and Codes Administrators International), Federal (National Environmental Policy Act), State, and local standards for construction or rehabilitation of health care facilities will be complied with;

(vii) Documentation of the State's commitment to obligate these funds by the end of the first year in which the funds are available, and that such funds must be expended by the end of the second year (section 1914(a)(2) of the PHS Act);

(viii) A certification that there is public support for a waiver, as well as a description of the procedure used (and the results therein) to ensure adequate comment from the general public and the appropriate State and local health planning organizations, local governmental entities and public and private-sector service providers that may be impacted by the waiver request;

(ix) Evidence that a State is committed to using the proposed new or rehabilitated substance abuse facility for the purposes stated in the request for at least 20 years for new construction and at least 10 years for rehabilitated facilities;

(x) An assurance that, if the facility ceases to be used for such services, or if the facility is sold or transferred for a purpose inconsistent with the State's waiver request, monies will be returned to the Federal Government in an amount proportionate to the Federal assistance provided, as it relates to the value of the facility at the time services cease or the facility sold or transferred;

(xi) A description of the methods used to minimize the costs of the construction or rehabilitation, including documentation of the costs of the residential facilities in the local area or other appropriate equivalent sites in the State;

(xii) An assurance that the State shall comply with the matching requirements of paragraph (d)(3) of this section; and

(xiii) Any other information the Secretary may determine to be appropriate.