St. John of God Retirement v. Dep’t of Health Care Serv.

After Gloria Glover Woods suffered a psychotic episode, the hospice provider directed that she be transferred from St. John to an acute care hospital for evaluation and treatment. When her treatment was concluded, St. John refused to readmit her to the first available bed under 42 C.F.R. 483.12. Section 483.12 governs the requirements for a skilled nursing facility’s involuntary transfer or discharge of a resident. After an administrative hearing, DHCS ordered St. John to readmit Ms. Woods, and the superior court denied St. John’s petition for writ of administrative mandate seeking to vacate the order. The court concluded that, in light of developments during the pendency of the appeal, the order requiring Ms. Woods’ readmission is now moot. However, because there is a separate civil lawsuit between the parties in which the issue is likely to arise again, the court exercised its discretion and concluded that section 483.12 does not exempt a skilled nursing facility from the readmission requirement when the transfer to an acute care hospital from which the resident is returning was ordered by the resident’s hospice care provider rather than the facility itself. Therefore, to the extent St. John contends that its refusal to readmit Ms. Woods did not constitute an involuntary transfer because she was returning from an acute hospitalization ordered by her hospice care provider, and that therefore St. John was not bound by the involuntary transfer requirements of section 483.12, St. John is mistaken. The court also rejected St. John’s contention that readmitting Ms. Woods and thereafter discharging her after complying with section 483.12’s requirements would have subjected St. John to liability under Health and Safety Code section 1432. View "St. John of God Retirement v. Dep't of Health Care Serv." on Justia Law