(1) If a boarding home voluntarily
withdraws from participation in a state medicaid program for
residential care and services under chapter 74.39A RCW, but
continues to provide services of the type provided by boarding
homes, the facility's voluntary withdrawal from participation is
not an acceptable basis for the transfer or discharge of
residents of the facility (a) who were receiving medicaid on the
day before the effective date of the withdrawal; or (b) who have
been paying the facility privately for at least two years and who
become eligible for medicaid within one hundred eighty days of
the date of withdrawal.
(2) A boarding home that has withdrawn from the state
medicaid program for residential care and services under chapter 74.39A RCW must provide the following oral and written notices to
prospective residents. The written notice must be prominent and
must be written on a page that is separate from the other
admission documents. The notice shall provide that:
(a) The facility will not participate in the medicaid
program with respect to that resident; and
(b) The facility may transfer or discharge the resident from
the facility for nonpayment, even if the resident becomes
eligible for medicaid.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the
medicaid contract under chapter 74.39A RCW that exists on the day
the facility withdraws from medicaid participation is deemed to
continue in effect as to the persons described in subsection (1)
of this section for the purposes of:
(a) Department payments for the residential care and
services provided to such persons;
(b) Maintaining compliance with all requirements of the
medicaid contract between the department and the facility; and
(c) Ongoing inspection, contracting, and enforcement
authority under the medicaid contract, regulations, and law.
(4) Except as provided in subsection (1) of this section,
this section shall not apply to a person who begins residence in
a facility on or after the effective date of the facility's
withdrawal from participation in the medicaid program for
residential care and services.
(5) A boarding home that is providing residential care and
services under chapter 74.39A RCW shall give the department and
its residents sixty days' advance notice of the facility's intent
to withdraw from participation in the medicaid program.
(6) Prior to admission to the facility, a boarding home
participating in the state medicaid program for residential care
and services under chapter 74.39A RCW must provide the following
oral and written notices to prospective residents. The written
notice must be prominent and must be written on a page that is
separate from the other admission documents, and must provide
that:
(a) In the future, the facility may choose to withdraw from
participating in the medicaid program;
(b) If the facility withdraws from the medicaid program, it
will continue to provide services to residents (i) who were
receiving medicaid on the day before the effective date of the
withdrawal; or (ii) who have been paying the facility privately
for at least two years and who will become eligible for medicaid
within one hundred eighty days of the date of withdrawal;
(c) After a facility withdraws from the medicaid program, it
may transfer or discharge residents who do not meet the criteria
described in this section for nonpayment, even if the resident
becomes eligible for medicaid.
[2008 c 251 § 1.]
NOTES:
Effective date -- 2008 c 251: "This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately [March 28, 2008], except for *section 2 of this act which applies retroactively to September 1, 2007." [2008 c 251 § 3.]
*Reviser's note: Section 2 of this act was vetoed by the governor.