A. In addition to any other actions required or permitted by federal law or regulation, the human services department shall impose a hold on state medicaid payments to a long-term care facility thirty days after the health and environment department [department of health] notifies the human services department in writing pursuant to an on-site visit that the long-term care facility is not in substantial compliance with the standards or conditions of participation promulgated by the federal department of health and human services pursuant to which the facility is a party to a medicaid provider agreement, unless the substantial noncompliance has been corrected within that thirty-day period or the facility's medicaid provider agreement is terminated or not renewed based in whole or in part on the noncompliance. The written notice shall cite the specific deficiencies that constitute noncompliance.

B. The human services department shall remove the payment hold imposed under Subsection A of this section when the health and environment department [department of health] pursuant to an on-site visit certifies in writing to the human services department that the long-term care facility is in substantial compliance with the standards or conditions of participation pursuant to which the facility is a party to a medicaid provider agreement.

C. The human services department shall not reimburse any long-term care facility during the payment hold period imposed pursuant to Subsection A of this section for any medicaid recipient-patients who are new admissions and who are admitted on or after the day the hold is imposed and prior to the day the hold is removed.

D. If a long-term care facility is certified in writing to be in noncompliance pursuant to Subsection A of this section for the second time in any twelve-month period, the human services department shall cancel or refuse to execute the long-term care facility's medicaid provider agreement for a two-month period, unless it can be demonstrated that harm to the patients would result from this action or that good cause exists to allow the facility to continue to participate in the medicaid program. The provisions of this subsection are subject to appeal procedures set forth in federal regulations for nonrenewal or termination of a medicaid provider agreement.

E. A long-term care facility shall not charge medicaid recipient-patients, their families or their responsible parties to recoup any payments not received because of a hold on medicaid payments imposed pursuant to this section.

F. This section shall not be construed to affect any other provisions for medicaid provider agreement termination, nonrenewal, due process and appeal pursuant to federal law or regulation.

G. As used in this section:

(1) "day" means a twenty-four hour period beginning at midnight and ending one second before midnight;

(2) "long-term care facility" means any intermediate care facility or skilled nursing facility which is licensed by the health and environment department [department of health] and which is medicaid certified;

(3) "new admissions" means medicaid recipients who have never been in the long-term care facility or, if previously admitted, had been discharged or had voluntarily left the facility. The term does not include:

(a) individuals who were in the long-term care facility before the effective date of the hold on medicaid payments and became eligible for medicaid after that date; and

(b) individuals who, after a temporary absence from the facility, are readmitted to beds reserved for them in accordance with federal regulations; and

(4) "substantial compliance" means the condition of having no cited deficiencies or having only those cited deficiencies which:

(a) are not inconsistent with any federal statutory requirement;

(b) do not interfere with adequate patient care;

(c) do not represent a hazard to the patients' health or safety;

(d) are capable of correction within a reasonable period of time; and

(e) are ones which the long-term care facility is making reasonable plans to correct.

History: Laws 1987, ch. 214, § 1.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law. Laws 1991, ch. 25, § 16 repealed former 9-7-4 NMSA 1978, relating to the health and environment department, and enacted a new 9-7-4 NMSA 1978, creating the department of health.