(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply: (1) âLong-term health care facilityâ means a skilled nursing facility or nursing facility as those terms are defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) and subdivision (k) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety Code, respectively. (2) âTimelyâ means within three calendar days of a long-term health care facility being served a hearing decision. (b) A long-term health care facility shall timely comply with a hearing decision, as issued by the departmentâs Office of Administrative Hearings and Appeals pursuant to Section 1396r(e)(3) of Title 42 of the United States Code and Section 1599.1 of the Health and Safety Code, that finds that the long-term health care facility improperly transferred, discharged, or refused to readmit a resident. (c) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, and in addition to any other remedial action available to the department, if a long-term health care facility fails to timely comply with a hearing decision issued by the departmentâs Office of Administrative Hearings and Appeals, the department may assess penalties pursuant to this subdivision. (2) Commencing on the fourth calendar day after the date of service of the hearing decision, the department may assess a penalty of seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) for each calendar day the facility fails to comply with the hearing decision. (3) For each individual hearing decision, the department shall not assess aggregate penalties that exceed seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000). (d) To demonstrate compliance with a hearing decision, a long-term health care facility shall file a certification of compliance with the department within three calendar days of the date the hearing decision is served on that facility, in a form and manner as established by the department. The certification shall specify the date of service of the hearing decision and the date on which the resident was readmitted or the facility otherwise complied with the hearing decision. The department shall make a certificate of compliance available on its internet website. (e) A long-term health care facilityâs failure to timely comply with the hearing decision, including, but not limited to, a failure to file the certification of compliance within three calendar days of service of the hearing decision, as described in subdivision (d), shall subject that facility to the issuance of penalties as specified in subdivision (c), except as provided in subdivision (g). (f) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, the amount of the assessed penalties, as calculated pursuant to subdivision (c), for a long-term health care facility may be deducted by the department from any Medi-Cal payments to that facility until the penalties are paid in full. If the department deducts the penalties from the Medi-Cal payments to the facility, the department shall provide prior written notice to the facility, and, in taking into account the financial condition of the facility, may apply that deduction over a period of time. (2) Notwithstanding any other law, if there is a merger, acquisition, or change of ownership involving a long-term health care facility that has outstanding penalties pursuant to this section, the successor long-term health care facility shall be responsible for paying to the department the full amount of outstanding penalties attributable to the facility for which it was assessed, upon the effective date of that transaction. (g) The department may waive all or a portion of the penalties assessed under this section if a facility petitions for a waiver and the department determines, in its sole discretion, that the petitioning facility meets both of the following: (1) The facility complied with the hearing decision or otherwise demonstrated to the departmentâs satisfaction that sufficient corrective action has been taken to remediate the underlying improper conduct. (2) The facility demonstrated to the departmentâs sati
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