Nursing Home Disclosure Rule Changes March 23

The Affordable Care Act as of March 23 will require long-term care administrators to submit written notification to residents 60 days prior to a facility closure. Notification must be made to the Department of Health and Human Services and the state's LTC ombudsman too. Currently, administrators must do so just 30 days before a planned closure.

Closure notices have to contain a state-approved relocation plan and "include assurances that the residents will be transferred to the most appropriate facility or other setting in terms of quality, services, and location, taking into consideration the needs, choice and best interests of each resident," according to the rule.

Administrators who fail to comply with the rule can face civil monetary penalties of up to $100,000. Additionally, administrators can be denied participation in any federal health care program and could be subject to further penalties.

While nursing home rules are laid in stone, not so for assisted living.

In December I blogged about that. New Jersey's state Legislature had passed a measure that would set up escrow accounts to protect assisted living residents in the event of a facility shutdown. Facilities giving up their operating license would also pay for services that decide how much money should be set aside to pay costs for affected residents.

The legislation stemmed from a documented series of incidents involving assisted living facilities run by Wisconsin-based Assisted Living Concepts who were evicting patients who had exhausted their personal finances and were eligible for Medicaid, in favor of new private-pay patients.

With aging-in-place catching on, reimbursements being reduced, staff hard to find, it is no wonder that nursing homes are not closing at a larger rate. Hundreds of nursing homes close each year. Data from the National Online Survey Certification and Reporting reveals that 2,902 nursing homes closed, almost 16% of all Medicare/Medicaid certified facilities. between 1999 and 2008.

So what is your closure plan? Do you have one?

Here's some additional questions, courtesy of the state of Michigan, Department of Community Health, that you need to consider.

• Where is the resident being relocated? (Name, address, phone number)
• Can the new setting meet the specific care needs of the resident?
• Does the new setting have appropriate space for the resident and the resident's belongings?
• What are the transportation arrangements for the resident? (Who, how and when.)
• Has the current nursing home provided the resident or resident's support team with an accounting of funds?
• Have all personal belongings been returned to the resident?
• Are all the resident's belongings tagged for transfer, such as clothing, television set, furniture, etc?
• Are the resident's clinical records available for transfer with the resident? Record requirements are attached.
• Have transfer orders for resident's medications or new prescriptions been made available to the new setting?
• Has a care plan been provided to the new setting?
• Are the resident's assistive or adaptive devices, or wheelchair being transferred with the resident?

Let me know how you handle or have handled or would handle a facility closure no matter the reason. Thanks.

Learn more ~ or join the conversation!

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