2011 California Code
Welfare and Institutions Code
DIVISION 9. PUBLIC SOCIAL SERVICES [10000 - 18996]
ARTICLE 3. Administration
Section 14108.1

Any recipient receiving care in a nursing facility under this chapter, as part of a certified special treatment program for mentally disordered persons, or as a part of a mental health therapeutic and rehabilitative program approved and certified by a local mental health director, is entitled to be temporarily absent from those facilities. The State Department of Health Services shall, with consultation from the State Department of Mental Health, develop regulations within 60 days of the effective date of this act establishing the periods of time and conditions under which temporary absences shall be permitted. These regulations shall require that absences be in accordance with an individual patient care plan and also provide for absences due to hospitalization for an acute condition. The limits on temporary leaves of absence established by the State Department of Health Services by regulation shall not be less than 30 days per year.

During these temporary absences, the State Department of Health Services shall reimburse the facility for the cost of maintaining the vacant accommodations at a rate to be determined by the department which shall be less than the normal reimbursement rate.

(Amended by Stats. 1989, Ch. 731, Sec. 12.)