![]() ![]() The Health Standards Section investigates complaints against licensed health care providers. To File a Complaint about a Health Care facility Important Information for Medicaid Providers: Please read carefully This information does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.Health Standards Section Complaint Information The above content is to be used for informational purposes only and is subject to change at any time. ![]() Please call our office at (716) 853-3087 to learn more about your rights as a resident in a nursing home and for potential legal representation. If you are a resident or family member of a resident who has been “discharged” to a hospital and informed your nursing home will not readmit you, the Center for Elder Law & Justice is available to help. It is important to note, however, if the resident has no acute care needs, there may be hospital charges accruing that insurance may not cover for each day the resident remains hospitalized. See our hospital discharge guide for more information. *If the resident does not wish to return to the nursing home, the resident should work with the hospital discharge planning team on viable and safe alternatives such as: return to the community with long-term services and supports, an adult care facility, or a different nursing home. The first step to filing an appeal is to contact the NYS Department of Health at 1-88 or by email at The resident can choose to be represented by an attorney, however an attorney will not be automatically appointed. If the appeal is successful, the resident has the right to return to the first available bed at the nursing home that originally sent them over to the hospital. When a nursing home refuses to readmit a resident, and that resident wants to return to the same nursing home, the resident has the right to appeal the facility’s determination. A hospital is not a permanent and/or appropriate discharge location. ![]() Furthermore, when a nursing home initiates a transfer or discharge of a resident from their facility, it is their responsibility to provide an appropriate discharge plan. It is the nursing home’s legal responsibility to ensure it is staffed appropriately to meet each admitted resident’s physical, mental, and psychosocial needs. Residents have rights and nursing homes are required to determine their capacity and capability to care for the resident before they are admitted. Once a nursing home admits a resident, regardless whether for short-term rehabilitation or long-term care, it cannot simply transfer the resident to a hospital and refuse to readmit them. This is known as an involuntary discharge to a hospital, or “hospital dump” and it violates resident rights laws. However, sometimes a nursing home will refuse to accept a resident back after they have been hospitalized, even when the resident wants to return and is not in need of acute care. Regardless of the reason, state and federal regulations require that nursing home residents who are temporarily hospitalized be allowed to return to the facility following hospitalization. Another reason may be that the nursing home feels that the residents’ clinical or behavioral status endangers the health and/or safety of other individuals in the facility. One reason may be that the resident has emergent care needs that require medical attention. There are a few scenarios when a resident staying in a nursing home may be transferred to a hospital. This case came to CELJ through our MedLaw Partnership of WNY, a collaboration with local hospitals that addresses health-harming civil legal issues facing patients, such as unlawful evictions, unsafe living conditions, lack of income or insurance based on improper denial of benefits, and lack of advance directives, among many others. The Administrative Law Judge ruled in our client’s favor and ordered the nursing home readmit our client as soon as the next bed became available. At the discharge hearing before the NYS Department of Health, the facility was unable to demonstrate why the hospital was an appropriate discharge, why the facility failed to engage in alternative discharge planning for the client, and why they sought instead to send the client to the hospital. Recently, CELJ represented a client who was discharged from a nursing home to a local hospital with a transfer/discharge notice stating that the facility would not be able to take our client back. Have a quick question for a lawyer? Call our FREE Legal Advice Helpline for New Yorkers 55+ at: 1-84 ![]()
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