La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § I-4661

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section I-4661 - Nursing Home Residents' Trust Fund

A. The department shall deposit civil fines and the interest collected from nursing homes into the Nursing Home Residents' Trust Fund, hereafter referred to as trust fund.

B. The secretary shall administer the trust fund.

C. The monies in the trust fund shall be subject to annual appropriation and shall be used solely as mandated by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 ( P.L. 100-203) for any of the following purposes:

1. to protect the health or property of residents of nursing homes which the department finds deficient;

2. to pay for the costs of relocation of residents to other facilities;

3. to maintain operation of a facility pending correction of deficiencies or closure;

4. to reimburse residents for personal funds lost;

5. to allow the department to use the funds for education to improve the health and welfare of residents;

6. to reimburse a nursing home(s) for evacuation expenses, subject to approval by the federal government; and

7. any other purpose approved by CMS.

D. Request for monies from the trust fund shall be made in writing to the department. All expenditures are subject to the approval of CMS.

E. Monies from the trust fund shall be utilized only to the extent that private or public funds, including funds available under title XVIII and title XIX of the Social Security Act, are not available or are not sufficient to meet the expenses of the facility.

F. The department is hereby authorized to enter into cooperative endeavor agreements with public and private entities for the approved expenditure of monies in the trust fund that achieve the purpose of the fund.

G. The existence of the trust fund shall not make the department responsible for the maintenance of residents of a nursing home facility or maintenance of the facility itself.

H. The department has the discretion to require repayment of a disbursement from the trust fund.

1. If required, the terms of repayment of monies disbursed shall be determined by the secretary and may, where appropriate, be set forth in a contract signed by the secretary and the applicant or other party responsible for repayment.

2. Failure to repay the funds according to the established terms of repayment shall preclude future disbursements to the applicant from the trust fund until all monies are repaid.

3. Monies due and owing to reimburse the trust fund shall accrue interest at the current judicial interest rate.

4. If a nursing home fails to repay the funds according to the established terms of repayment, the department may recoup the amount of disbursement not repaid by a nursing home from the nursing home's Medicaid payments or from any other payments owed to the nursing home from the department.

5. All monies collected pursuant to a repayment agreement or by recoupment shall be treated in the same manner as a collected civil fine.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § I-4661

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Hospitals, Bureau of Health Services Financing, LR 39:3085 (November 2013).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 40:2009.11, 40:2009.23, 40:2199 and 40:2199.1.