Reservation of beds. Penalty. Hearing

Compliance with section 19a-537 shall be monitored by the department on a postaudit basis or whenever a complaint is received and its provisions shall be enforced as follows: (1) The Department of Social Services is authorized to impose a penalty not greater than eight thousand five hundred dollars for each violation of said section 19a-537. (2) The department shall recoup payments made to a nursing home for reserve-bed days when it is determined that: The nursing home made the bed assigned to a hospitalized resident available to another person; or the nursing home was reimbursed for reserve bed days after it had objective information indicating that the hospitalized person would not return to the nursing home; or the nursing home failed to provide a resident with the first available bed or grant a resident priority of admission as required by subsection (e) of said section 19a-537; or the nursing home failed to document the appropriate vacancy rate or hospital contact. If the payments have already been made, the department may set off the amount of the payments against any other payments due to the nursing home. (3) The department may impose a penalty upon a facility pursuant to subdivision (1) of this section or recoup any payments from a facility pursuant to subdivision (2) of this section, regardless of whether a change in ownership of the facility has taken place since the time of the violation, provided the department has issued notice of the alleged violation and the accompanying penalty or recoupment prior to the effective date of the change in ownership and record of such notice is readily available in a central registry maintained by the department. (4) Prior to imposing any penalty pursuant to subdivision (1) of this section or recouping any payments pursuant to subdivision (2) of this section, the Department of Social Services shall notify the nursing home of the alleged violation and the accompanying penalty or recoupment, and shall permit such facility to request an administrative hearing, in accordance with sections 4-177 to 4-181, inclusive. A facility shall request such hearing within fifteen days of receipt of the notice of violation from the Department of Social Services. The department shall stay the imposition of any penalty or recoupment pending the outcome of the administrative hearing.