(a) Any nursing facility or any category of intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled currently certified to participate in the Medi-Cal program may not voluntarily withdraw from the program unless all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The facility shall file with the department a notice of intent to withdraw from the Medi-Cal program.

(2) Except for patients to be transferred or discharged only for medical reasons, or for patients’ welfare or that of other patients, or for nonpayment for his or her stay, the facility shall not subsequently evict any Medi-Cal recipient or private pay patient residing in the facility at the time the notice of intent to withdraw from the Medi-Cal program is filed.

(3) Patients admitted to the facility on or after the date of the notice of intent to withdraw from the Medi-Cal program shall be advised orally and in writing of both the following:

(A) That the facility intends to withdraw from the Medi-Cal program.

(B) That notwithstanding Section 14124.7, the facility is not required to keep a new resident who converts from private pay to Medi-Cal.

(b) Subdivision (a) shall not apply to facilities that have filed, prior to May 1, 1987, a notice of intent to withdraw from the Medi-Cal program.

(c) The department shall notify the appropriate substate ombudsmen monthly as to which facilities have filed a notice of intent to withdraw from the Medi-Cal program. This information shall also be made available to the public and noted in facility files available in each district office.

(d) The facility may formally withdraw from the Medi-Cal program when all patients residing in the facility at the time the facility filed the notice of intent to withdraw from the Medi-Cal program no longer reside in the facility.

(e) If a facility that has withdrawn as a Medi-Cal provider pursuant to this section subsequently reapplies to the department to become a Medi-Cal provider, the department shall require as a condition of becoming a Medi-Cal provider that the facility enter into a five-year Medi-Cal provider contract with the department.

(f)  This section shall be inoperative in the event federal law or federal or state appellate judicial decisions prohibit implementation or invalidate any part of this section.

(g) (1) This section does not apply to any facility which ceases operations entirely.

(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “ceases operations entirely” means not being in operation for a period of not less than 12 months.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 728, Sec. 198. (SB 71) Effective January 1, 2013. Conditionally inoperative as provided in subd. (f).)