(a)  It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to act or serve in the capacity of a nursing home administrator, unless he or she is the holder of an active nursing home administrator’s license issued in accordance with this chapter. Persons carrying out functions and duties delegated by a licensed nursing home administrator shall not be acting in violation of this chapter.

(b)  (1)  This chapter shall not apply to any person who serves as an acting administrator as provided in this subdivision when a licensed administrator is not available because of death, illness, or any other reason.

(2)  A person who is acting as an administrator shall notify the program in writing within five days of acting in this capacity and provide factual information and specific circumstances necessitating the use of an acting administrator.

(3)  No person shall act as an administrator for more than 10 days unless arrangements have been made for part-time supervision of his or her activities by a nursing home administrator who holds a license or provisional license under this chapter. Supervision shall include at least 8 hours per week of direct onsite supervision by the licensed administrator. The program shall be notified in writing of the nature of this arrangement. No person shall act as an administrator for more than two months without the written approval of the program. The program shall not approve a person to act as an administrator for more than six months.

(4)  If the acting administrator is an administrator in training, then the supervision required by paragraph (3) may be counted towards the total hours of supervised training required by subdivision (f) of Section 1416.57.

(c)  Notwithstanding subdivision (b), an individual acting as an administrator for more than 10 days must have management experience in a health facility.

(Added by Stats. 2001, Ch. 687, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2002.)