(a)  Annually in the month of January, every licensed hospital shall submit to the Rhode Island department of health, its core-staffing plan. Such plan shall specify for each patient care unit and each shift, the number of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and/or certified nursing assistants who shall ordinarily be assigned to provide direct patient care and the average number of patients upon which such staffing levels are based.

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(b)  For the purposes of this section:

(1)  “Core-staffing plan” shall mean the projected complement of nonmanagerial nursing staff that shall be assigned on each shift to a specified patient care unit.

(2)  “Nonmanagerial nursing staff” shall mean registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and/or certified nursing assistants who perform nonmanagerial direct patient care functions for more than fifty percent (50%) of their scheduled hours on a given patient care unit.

(3)  “Patient care unit” shall mean a designated area for assigning patients and staff for which discrete budget and staffing plans exist.