(1) The secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Ser vices is authorized to designate those private homes, private nursing homes, and private institutions that he or she deems, after a thorough investigation of the personal and financial qualifications of the owners and tenants, the facilities and management , and the desirability of the location of the homes, suitable for the placement of patients, including individuals with mental illness or an intellectual disability of all ages, outside of the state mental hospitals. The secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services may promulgate, by administrative regulation, standards for the selection and operation of private homes, private nursing homes, and private institutions designated for the placement of patients. No home of an officer or employee of th e Cabinet for Health and Family Services or of a member of his or her immediate family shall be designated for the placement of patients. (2) Whenever the staff of a state mental hospital has determined that a patient who is not being held on an order aris ing out of a criminal offense has sufficiently improved and is not dangerous to himself, herself, or other persons, and that it would be in the patient's best interest to be placed outside of the hospital in a private home or private nursing home, the hosp ital shall so certify and authorize the patient to be transferred to a designated private home or private nursing home for care and custody for a length of time that the hospital deems advisable. (3) No patient with an intellectual disability lodged in a s tate institution may have his or her level of care reclassified nor may the patient be transferred to a private nursing home or other private institution without first providing ten (10) days' notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the pati ent's parents or guardian that a reclassification of the patient's level of care or a transfer in the place of residence is being considered. (4) Any parent or guardian of any patient with an intellectual disability lodged in a state institution may partic ipate in any evaluation procedure which may result in a reclassification of the patient's level of care or in a transfer in the place of residence of the patient. Participation may include the submission by the parents or guardian of medical evidence or an y other evidence deemed relevant by the parents or guardian to the possible reclassification or transfer of the patient. (5) If the decision to reclassify or transfer any patient with an intellectual disability is adverse to the best interests of the patie nt as expressed by the parents or guardian, they shall be given notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, that they are entitled to a thirty (30) day period from the receipt of such notice to file with the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services a notice of appeal and application for a hearing. Upon receipt of an application for a hearing, a hearing shall be conducted in accordance with KRS Chapter 13B. (6) The appeal shall be heard by a three (3) member panel composed of a designa ted representative of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, a designated representative of the state institution where the patient with an intellectual disability is presently lodged, and a designated neutral representative appointed by the county judge/executive of the county in which the institution in question is located. The Office of Administrative Hearings within the Department of Law may appoint a hearing officer to preside over the conduct of the hearing. (7) Decisions made by the panel may be appealed to the Circuit Court of the county in which the state institution in question is located, to the Circuit Court of the county in which either of the parents or guardians or committee of the patient in question is domiciled at the time of the decis ion, or to Franklin Circuit Court in accordance with KRS Chapter 13B. (8) All parents or guardians or committee of a patient with an intellectual disability lodged in a state institution shall be fully apprised by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services of their rights and duties under the provisions of subsections (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7) of this section. (9) The provisions of KRS 210.700 to 210.760 shall apply to patients transferred to designated private homes and private nursing homes as though th e patients were residing in a state mental hospital.
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