(a) As used in this section:

(1) "Agent" means a person who manages, uses, controls, or otherwise has legal access to a resident's income or resources that legally may be used to pay a resident's share of cost or other charges not paid by the Arkansas Medicaid program;

(2) "Long-term care facility" means a nursing home, residential care facility, post-acute head injury retraining and residential care facility, or any other facility that provides long-term medical or personal care;

(3) "Medicaid recipient" means any individual in whose behalf any person claimed or received any payment or payments from the Arkansas Medicaid program; and

(4) "Resident" means a person:

(A) Who resides on a permanent and full-time basis in a long-term care facility;

(B) Who is a Medicaid recipient; and

(C) Whose facility care is paid, in whole or in part, by Medicaid.

(b)

(1) No long-term care facility may require a third-party guarantee of payment to the facility as a condition of admission, expedited admission, or continued stay in the facility.

(2) However, a long-term care facility may require an agent who has legal access to a resident's income or resources available to pay for facility care to sign a contract without incurring personal financial liability to provide facility payment from the resident's income or resources.

(c) An agent who guarantees payment under subdivision (b)(2) of this section shall be personally liable to the facility for payment of a resident's share of cost or other charges incurred by the resident if and to the extent that the agent uses a resident's income or resources for purposes other than the resident's facility care.

(d) Unless otherwise exempted by law or contract, a resident or his or her agent shall pay for the resident's share of cost or other charges not paid for by Medicaid.

(e) If a resident who has not been a Medicaid recipient becomes a Medicaid recipient, the long-term care facility shall make a reasonable attempt to contact the Arkansas Medicaid program to determine the resident's share of cost.

(f)

(1) If a resident or his or her agent disputes the amount of share of cost owed to a long-term care facility, the resident or the agent may apply for a hearing under the rules of the Department of Human Services for a determination of the amount of share of cost owed to the long-term care facility.

(2) The hearing shall be limited to only a determination of the amount of share of cost owed to the long-term care facility and shall not result in a determination that names the person or persons responsible for the payment of that share.

(g) Any agent who knowingly violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) or by imprisonment not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) days, or both.