2021 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 44 - Health
Chapter 7 - Hospitals, Tuberculosis Camps And Health Services Districts
Section 44-7-90. Violations of Article; penalties; relocation of patients; report of daily Medicaid resident census information.

(A) Based on reports from the State Department of Health and Human Services, the department shall determine each nursing home's compliance with its Medicaid nursing home permit. Violations of this article include:

(1) a nursing home exceeding by more than five percent the number of Medicaid patient days stated in its permit;

(2) the provisions of any Medicaid patient days by a home without a Medicaid nursing home permit.

(B) A nursing home which exceeds its Medicaid patient days stated in its permit may be fined on the number of Medicaid patient days exceeding the permit days multiplied by its daily Medicaid per diem. Medicaid permit days provided to Complex Care residents, as certified by the Department of Health and Human Services, must not be counted against the facility's Medicaid permit for the first six months of their care. Any complex care provided after six months must be counted toward the facility's Medicaid patient days under the permit days times their daily Medicaid per diem rate less the statewide average patient per diem recurring income times thirty percent. Complex Care reimbursement must not be used in the fine calculation. A facility may be fined incrementally for exceeding its Medicaid permit. Violations above five and up to ten percent of the stated permit may be fined at thirty percent of its Medicaid per diem rate less the statewide average patient per diem recurring income times the number of excess Medicaid permit days. A facility may be fined fifty percent of its Medicaid per diem rate less the statewide average patient per diem recurring income for each day above ten and up to fifteen percent of its Medicaid permit. A facility may be fined seventy percent of its Medicaid per diem rate less the statewide average patient per diem recurring income for each day in excess of fifteen percent of its stated Medicaid permit. A facility may appeal to the department any fine for days over its permit based on the facility's inability to discharge a resident based on the requirements of Section 44-7-88 if the facility can prove:

(1) the resident's primary pay source upon admission was not Medicaid;

(2) the resident did not convert to Medicaid within twenty days of being admitted as a Medicare or Medicaid replacement policy resident; and

(3) the resident did not convert to Medicaid within thirty days of being admitted as a private pay resident.

(C) In the event of a voluntary or involuntary discontinuation of participation of a nursing facility in the Medicaid program, the State must ensure that the facility provides for patient safety and freedom of choice. The Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Department of Health and Human Services must determine the availability of existing patient days statewide for the purpose of relocating these patients. Based upon this determination, the department, at its discretion, may reallocate the patient days from a facility discontinuing its Medicaid participation to a facility that participates in the Medicaid program and agrees to accept the residents from the facility that is discontinuing Medicaid participation. The Medicaid permit day shall permanently remain with the facility accepting the resident. In the allocation of patient days from the facility discontinuing Medicaid participation, the department must give first priority to restoring a county's allocation where a facility holding a permit closes, or discontinues participation in Medicaid. A nursing home receiving beds under the provisions of this subsection must not be a Special Focus Facility at the time of allocation.

(D) Effective July 1, 2014, all nursing facility providers holding a Medicaid permit must report their daily Medicaid resident census information to the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services or its contractor for the purpose of maintaining a statewide bed locator and permit day tracking system.

(E) Each Medicaid day above the allowable range is considered a separate violation. A fine assessed against a nursing home must be deducted from the nursing home's Medicaid reimbursement.

HISTORY: 1987 Act No. 184 Section 1; 1995 Act No. 145, Part II, Section 73B; 2014 Act No. 152 (H.3978), Section 1, eff April 7, 2014.