(a) The State Department of Health Care Services, in conjunction with the State Department of Public Health, shall develop a state-level plan for a streamlined and consolidated evaluation and monitoring program for the review of skilled nursing facilities with special treatment programs. The plan shall provide for consolidated reviews, reports, and penalties for these facilities. The plan shall include the cost of, and a timeline for implementing, the plan. The plan shall be developed in consultation with stakeholders, including county mental health programs, consumers, family members of persons residing in long-term care facilities who have serious mental illness, and long-term care providers. The plan shall review resident safety and quality programming, ensure that long-term care facilities engaged primarily in diagnosis, treatment, and care of persons with mental diseases are available and appropriately evaluated, and ensure that strong linkages are built to local communities and other treatment resources for residents and their families. The plan shall be submitted to the Legislature on or before March 1, 2001.
(b) The State Department of Public Health shall forward to the State Department of Health Care Services copies of citations issued to a skilled nursing facility that has a special treatment program certified by the State Department of Health Care Services.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 34, Sec. 135. (SB 1009) Effective June 27, 2012.)