Continuing care contracts.

Existing law regulates continuing care contracts and imposes certain reporting and reserve requirements on continuing care communities. Existing law establishes the Continuing Care Provider Fee Fund, which consists of specified fees from continuing care providers and which is continuously appropriated to the State Department of Social Services to oversee the continuing care provider program. Existing law requires the department to adjust the fees to reduce the amounts collected when the balance of the fund is projected to exceed $500,000 for the next budget year. This bill would rename the fund as the CCRC Oversight Fund. The bill would also remove the requirement that the department reduce the amounts collected when the fund is projected to reach $500,000 and would, instead, require the department to, as needed, adjust the fees on continuing care providers to ensure that the balance in the fund is adequate to fund the reasonable regulatory costs of the program for the year and does not exceed an amount adequate to fund those costs. By authorizing additional amounts to be deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the approved budget for the Continuing Care Contracts Section to be posted on the department's internet website. Existing law authorizes the department to require a continuous care provider to submit a financial plan in specified circumstances, including when the department has reason to believe that the provider is insolvent, is in imminent danger of becoming insolvent, is in a financially unsound or unsafe condition, or that its condition is such that it may otherwise be unable to fully perform its obligations pursuant to continuing care contracts. Existing law requires the plan to explain how and when the provider will rectify the problems and deficiencies identified by the department. This bill would authorize the department to require a provider to submit a financial plan and quarterly financial reports in the above circumstances. The bill would also require a provider to notify the department on a quarterly basis if two specified additional circumstances occur and would authorize the department to require the plan and reports when a combination of those additional circumstances exist, including when the provider's total occupancy falls below 85%. The bill would require the financial plan and the quarterly financial reports to be distributed as specified, including to the facility's resident council. The bill would require the approved financial plan and the most recent quarterly report to be shared with a prospective or incoming resident if the person will likely become a resident within 60 days and before the remediation of the problems and deficiencies.